Putin's peace bid revealed: Ukraine must give up Donbas, NATO and Foreign Troops

In essence, according to Russian sources, Putin has eased the territorial requirements he submitted in June 2024, when he demanded that Kiev hand over the entire territory of four regions that Moscow claims are part of Russia: Donnetsk and Luhansk east of Ukraine, which make up Donbassin, as well as Kherson and Zaporizija in the south.

In the new proposal, the Russian president has remained committed to demanding that Ukraine fully withdraw from the pieces of Donbas that still controls them, three sources said.

In exchange, however, Moscow would ban advances on the current front lines in Zaporizhija and Kherson, they added.

Russia controls about 88 percent of Donbas and 73 percent of Zaporisiza and Kherson, according to American estimates and data from open sources.

Moscow is also ready to return small parts of the areas of Harkiv, Sumi and Dnipropetrovski, which currently controls as part of a possible deal, sources said.

Putin also stands behind earlier demands that Ukraine give up ambitions to join NATO and that the US-led military alliance give a legally binding promise that it will not expand further to the east. It also calls for limiting the Ukrainian Army and an agreement that Western troops are not deployed on Ukraine's territory as part of any peacekeeping mission, sources said.

However, the two sides remain far from a deal, more than three years after Putin ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops to enter Ukraine in a full invasion, following the annexing of the Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and the prolonged fighting in the east of the country between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops.

Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky has sometimes dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian territories as part of any agreement, and has said that industrial Donbass serves as a fortress that prohibits Russian progress deeper in Ukraine.

If we talk about a simple pull from the east, we can't do that. This is about the survival of our country, including the strongest lines of defence”, he told reporters in statements Kiev published Thursday.

NATO membership, meanwhile, is a strategic goal defined in the country's constitution, and Kiev views it as the most reliable guarantee of its security. Zelensky has said it is not for Russia to decide on Ukraine's membership in the alliance.

Three sources near the Kremlin have said the summit in Alaska's Anchorage City presented the best opportunity for peace since the start of the war, because concrete talks were held on Russian conditions and Putin showed readiness for compromise.

“Putin is ready for peace, for compromise. This is the message he conveyed to Trump”, said one of the conversationators.

Sources warned that it is not clear to Moscow whether Ukraine will be willing to hand over the remaining pieces of Donbas, and that if not, war will continue.

It is also not clear whether the United States would offer any recognition to Ukraine's territories controlled by Russia, they added.

A fourth source said that, although economic issues are secondary to Putin, he understands Russia's economic weakness and the extent of the effort needed to make further progress in Ukraine. /Periscopi/