Donbas had a pre -war population of 150,000 and includes the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
After a meeting with Putin on Friday in Alaska, Trump told the European allies that the Russian president repeated that he wants the most important regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, but that he seemed to be open for the possibility of ending the stalemate in Zaporizhia and Kherson together with a freezing along the Fronlinie.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskyy has previously rejected the idea of giving up the territory in the Donbas.
Zenskyy outlines Vredesisen before High-Stakes Witte Huis encountering Trump
Trump told European allies that Putin repeated that he wants the most important regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)
Zenskyy has refused to withdraw from the remaining 30% of Donetsk who still checks Ukraine. He said that this would be unconstitutional and that the territory can be used as a gathering place for later Russian attacks.
The Ukrainian leader is planned to meet Trump in the White House on Monday.
Trump also reversed his support for a ceasefire and is looking for a peace agreement after meeting Putin, who has long said that Moscow is not interested in a temporary ceasefire and is looking for a long-term control that supports the interests of the Kremlin.
Trump: We go directly to Russia-Ukraine peace agreement, “not just a ceasefire”
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskyy has previously rejected the idea of giving up the territory in the Donbas. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
After calling with Zenskyy and European leaders, Trump said on social media on Saturday that “it was determined by all the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine, it was directly going to a peace agreement that would end the war, and no mere stopping -the fire agreement, who often does not persist.”
The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told ZDF television that Trump said that Russia “seems to be willing to perform the negotiations on the basis of the so-called contact line and not the administrative boundaries.”
In a statement after the call with Trump, large European leaders did not set up or they prefer a peace agreement above a cease -the fire.
Trump reversed his support for a ceasefire and looking for a peace agreement instead. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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The leaders said that they “to put the efforts of President Trump to put the murder in Ukraine, welcomed, end the Russian war war and reach just and lasting peace.”
Putin described his conversations with Trump in Alaska as ‘very frank’.
“Of course we respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a quick end of military actions,” said Putin during the follow -up meeting in the Kremlin, adding that “we want to move to solving all problems on peaceful means.”
The Associated Press has contributed to this report.
