Putin’s Warning: Surrender Donbas or Face Endless War
Putin demands Ukraine cede Donbas, ditch NATO ambitions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a bold set of demands to end the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has ravaged the country since the 2022 invasion and left hundreds of thousands dead or injured. According to three sources familiar with Kremlin thinking, Putin is insisting that Ukraine completely withdraw from the eastern Donbas region, renounce its NATO membership ambitions, remain neutral, and ban Western troops from its soil. These terms were discussed during a three-hour closed-door meeting with US President Donald Trump on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska—the first Russia-US summit in over four years.
The Anchorage summit marked a pivotal moment, with Putin signaling a willingness to compromise on earlier territorial demands from June 2024, which included Ukraine ceding four entire regions: Donetsk and Luhansk (comprising Donbas), plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender. In the new proposal, Putin insists on Ukraine’s full withdrawal from the remaining 12% of Donbas it controls, while offering to halt front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, where Russia holds 73% of the territory, according to US estimates. Moscow is also prepared to relinquish small areas in Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk as part of a deal.
Putin’s demands extend beyond territory. He seeks a legally binding pledge from NATO to halt eastward expansion and limits on Ukraine’s military, alongside a guarantee that no Western peacekeeping forces will be deployed in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has firmly rejected ceding any internationally recognized land, emphasizing that Donbas is a critical defensive stronghold. “Withdrawing from the east is not an option,” Zelenskiy stated on August 21, 2025. “It’s about our survival.” NATO membership remains a constitutional priority for Ukraine, seen as its strongest security guarantee.
Also Read: Jaishankar’s High-Stakes Moscow Meet with Putin: India-Russia Ties Set to Soar!
The summit, facilitated by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who met Putin in Moscow on August 6, was described by Kremlin sources as the best chance for peace since the war began. Putin reportedly conveyed a readiness to negotiate, but warned that failure to cede Donbas would prolong the conflict. “There are two choices: war or peace,” one source said. Potential frameworks for a deal include a trilateral Russia-Ukraine-US agreement backed by the UN Security Council or reviving the 2022 Istanbul talks, which proposed Ukrainian neutrality for security guarantees from global powers.
Despite the talks, both sides remain deeply divided. Ukraine’s foreign ministry offered no immediate comment, and the White House and NATO did not respond to inquiries. Political scientist Samuel Charap of RAND called Putin’s terms a “non-starter” for Kyiv, suggesting the proposal might be more about appealing to Trump than genuine compromise. Trump, who has vowed to end the war and be remembered as a “peacemaker president,” expressed optimism, stating, “I believe Putin wants to see it ended.” However, skepticism persists, with leaders from Britain, France, and Germany questioning Putin’s sincerity.
The war, now over three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, has left Russia controlling roughly a fifth of Ukraine—an area the size of Ohio. As economic pressures mount for Moscow, Putin’s willingness to cede some occupied territories suggests a pragmatic shift, but the core demand for Donbas remains a major hurdle. With Zelenskiy’s legitimacy questioned by Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov citing unresolved issues before any direct talks, the path to peace remains fraught with challenges.
