Trump and Putin have been going at it for a while now. And it doesn’t look like things are cooling down at all.
And now Vladimir Putin put Trump on the back foot with a surprise he never saw coming.
Kremlin Rejects Trump’s Ukraine Cease-Fire Idea
Russia has dismissed President Trump’s recent suggestion to halt the Ukraine conflict by maintaining existing battle lines, insisting that its position remains firm.
In response to Trump’s weekend idea for an immediate end to the war with both parties retaining their current territories, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, dismissed any notion of letting Ukraine hold onto sections of the Donbas.
“This topic was repeatedly raised in various forms during contacts between Russia and the US. The Russian side answered every time, this answer is well known: The consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change,” Peskov told the local media.
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leader, has consistently demanded that Ukraine relinquish the whole Donbas as a prerequisite for any truce.
Control and Challenges in the Donbas
Based on publicly available maps and assessments from independent experts, Russian forces dominate most of the Donbas, holding all of Luhansk Oblast and roughly three-quarters of Donetsk Oblast.
Yet, Moscow has faced ongoing difficulties in capturing Donetsk’s fortified “fortress belt,” which has held off invading troops for over three years.
Kyiv has steadfastly refused to cede the area, concerned that it would enable Russia to regroup and launch a more effective assault on the rest of Ukraine without the defensive stronghold.
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Diplomatic Exchanges and Potential Talks
During a pre-meeting phone conversation with Trump before his discussion with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Putin emphasized Russia’s demand for Ukraine to yield Donetsk, according to reports from The Washington Post.
That call preceded a lengthy three-hour session with Zelensky, in which Trump advocated for pausing hostilities along the present front lines.
“So what I say is they should stop right now at the battle lines. Go home, stop killing people and be done,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.
The president pushed back against claims that the Zelensky encounter turned into a heated argument, or that he pressed the Ukrainian president to abandon the full Donbas under threat of Russian devastation.
Even while turning down Trump’s plan, Peskov indicated Moscow’s openness to a Trump-Putin dialogue on a potential armistice.
The pair is slated to convene in Budapest soon, though Zelensky’s participation is uncertain.
Trump and Putin last held a summit in Alaska during the summer.
