Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a conversation with his American counterpart Donald Trump, rejected the idea of completely handing over the Donetsk region to Russia.
Reuters writes about this, citing its own sources.
According to the agency, during a joint online meeting, Trump conveyed to Zelensky Putinʼs proposal to freeze most of the front line in exchange for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the unoccupied part of the Donetsk region. Zelensky rejected the idea.
Bloomberg previously reported on Putinʼs proposal. The New York Times claimed that Putin, at a meeting with Trump, demanded official status for the Russian language in Ukraine and security for the UOC MP.
According to the NYT, as a security guarantee, Putin offered a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again.
Putin and Trump talks
Putin and Trump held talks in a “three-on-three” format on August 15. The meeting lasted about three hours, after which the US president and the Kremlin leader made brief statements, but did not answer journalists’ questions.
The leaders did not make any significant statements about the ceasefire in Ukraine and related issues, but both spoke positively about the talks. There were also no agreements on a trilateral summit with Zelensky’s participation.
On the morning of August 16, Trump had a phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky, which lasted over an hour and a half — first one-on-one, then European leaders joined in. The US President briefed Zelensky on his meeting with Putin and the main points of their conversation.
At the same time, it became known that Trump invited Volodymyr Zelensky to meet on August 18 in Washington — the Ukrainian president says that there they will discuss "all the details after the killings are over, after the war is over".
After a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European leaders, and a meeting with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Trump said that "all together" decided that we should move immediately to a peace agreement, rather than talk about a temporary ceasefire.
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