Putin wants Ukraine to give up large swathes of territory, but Zelensky is unlikely to concede
The future of Ukraine is once again at the centre of fraught international diplomacy after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska to discuss a potential peace deal.
According to accounts from both sides, the talks touched on the most sensitive fault line of the war: whether Ukraine should surrender occupied territory in exchange for security guarantees from the West.
However, European leaders, led by Sir Keir Starmer, say peace cannot be imposed without Kyiv’s consent and insist international borders must not be altered by force.
The immediate focus now shifts to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s planned visit to Washington, where he is expected to press his case directly to Trump.
European allies are preparing for parallel talks on the scope of any security guarantees, while Moscow has yet to confirm whether it will join any future three-way summit between Russia, Ukraine and the US.
Here is everything you need to know about the peace talks in five minutes:
What does Putin want?
According to multiple sources, the Russian President used a meeting with Trump on Friday to demand a complete Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country.
He also reportedly wants a freeze of the current front lines in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — effectively locking in substantial Russian gains.
Putin is said to want these two regions as they will give him a continuous corridor linking Russia to occupied Crimea.
There have been claims that Putin may be open to relinquishing minor occupied strips in northern Ukraine, as well as key sites like the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in exchange for control of the Donbas region.
Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014. However, key parts of Donetsk, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, are still under Ukrainian control.
Russia has struggled to take these areas militarily due to Ukraine’s strong defensive positions – and is therefore looking to take them via diplomatic means.
The Kremlin has also maintained demands that Ukraine abandon its Nato ambition.
What does Zelensky want?
Zelensky told reporters last week that he wanted Putin to agree to a ceasefire on the current frontlines and for both sides to return all prisoners of war and missing children, before any discussion about territory and the future security of the country.
The Ukrainian president has also firmly rejected proposals involving land swaps or ceding territory under any circumstances.
His focus is also on security guarantees. While not demanding full Nato membership for Ukraine at this time, he has proposed that remaining Ukrainian territories be brought under Nato’s protection immediately, allowing occupied regions to be regained later through diplomacy.
In the future, though, Zelensky does want there to be a clear path for Ukrainian membership of both the EU and Nato.
What is Trump prepared to give?
Trump has shifted from touting an immediate ceasefire toward advocating a “full peace” negotiated directly with Moscow, saying after the meeting with Putin in Alaska that land transfers and security guarantees were on the table and “largely agreed”.
Multiple sources, including The Telegraph, have reported that Trump is willing to back Putin’s demands for Ukraine to give up land to help bring an end to the conflict.
There have been reports that the White House is exploring a mutual-defence-style guarantee for Ukraine — not formal Nato membership, but a pledged security backstop — as part of a broader deal.
Under Trump’s proposal, the security guarantees would involve military and financial backing, but no direct deployment of US troops.
Earlier in 2025, Trump made clear that explicit security promises from the US would be limited. He insisted that European nations should bear the primary burden of providing those guarantees.
Why would giving the Donbas to Putin be controversial?
On the Ukrainian side, there are immediate concerns that conceding any land to Russia would not prevent the prospects of future conflicts.
Ahead of the Alaska meeting, Zelensky told reporters: “We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do it. For Russians, Donbas is a springboard for a future new offensive.”
“I have heard nothing – not a single proposal – that would guarantee that a new war will not start tomorrow and that Putin will not try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv,” he added.
European leaders are also understood to be concerned that Zelensky will reject any offer that involves ceding land and provoke an angry reaction from Trump. The pair famously clashed during a meeting in the Oval Office in February, and there are fears of a repeat of that spectacle.
What have European leaders been pushing for?
European leaders — including Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Germany’s Friedrich Merz — have made it clear that any peace agreement must include Ukraine at the table, and international borders “must not be changed by force”.
In a joint statement issued after the Alaska summit, they reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and proposed a future trilateral summit that would involve Kyiv directly.
“Our support to Ukraine will continue. We are determined to do more to keep Ukraine strong in order to achieve an end to the fighting and a just and lasting peace,” the statement said.
“As long as the killing in Ukraine continues, we stand ready to uphold the pressure on Russia. We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy until there is a just and lasting peace.”
Starmer has framed the British position as “unwavering” support for Ukraine paired with “robust and credible security guarantees” as part of any settlement, while rejecting border changes by force.
A Downing Street readout this week said the Prime Minister told allies that Ukraine must have guarantees “to defend its territorial integrity as part of any deal.”
