Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly willing to freeze current front lines in exchange for Ukrainian territorial concessions and a NATO membership ban, according to a report citing conversations with former U.S. President Donald Trump. Moscow’s demands, including no NATO membership for Ukraine, no Western troops on its soil, and surrender of the Donbas region, were formally delivered to Washington, according to sources familiar with Kremlin negotiations.
The report suggests that Putin would agree to halt the front lines where they currently stand in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia and relinquish some territory captured in the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. This is an apparent shift from a 2024 demand by Putin, who previously required Kyiv to hand over all four regions Moscow illegally annexed in 2022, including Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov raised geopolitical eyebrows this week by claiming in a televised interview that Moscow has ‘never talked about the need to seize any territories.’ Instead, his comments suggested that Putin’s ultimate war aim is the control of Kyiv, rather than the occupation of all of Ukraine, which Russian forces have been unable to achieve.
Meanwhile, a senior NATO defense official noted that Putin’s demand list was not unexpected, though there is concern that he may add to it in the future. ‘Whatever helps to stall,’ the official said, who spoke to Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity, indicating that Putin’s approach might be aimed at prolonging the conflict.
Following the initial invasion in February 2022, Russian forces were able to gain significant territory but have since faced major resistance from Ukrainian counter-offensives, which have recaptured substantial portions of land in Kherson and Kharkiv. However, since 2023, the frontlines have remained largely stagnant, with Russia reportedly occupying less than 20% of Ukraine.
Russian-controlled territory in Sumy and Kharkiv is estimated to equate to roughly 150 square miles combined, and a fraction of this in Dnipropetrovsk. Russian forces occupy some 88% of the Donbas, nearly all of Luhansk, and roughly 75% of Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
Concern over Ukraine’s sovereignty and autonomy had been on the rise well before Russia’s 2022 invasion, particularly after the outbreak of massive protests in Belarus following the alleged 2020 re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, a major ally of Putin who has essentially extended Belarus as a puppet state to Russia.