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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Ukraine and Russia should “stop at the battle lines” and end the war, U.S. President Donald Trump has said, suggesting that negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow should start on the basis of the current territorial situation.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that during a meeting on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, there had been no discussion that Kyiv should cede the Donbas region—consisting of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts—to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump said the war should “just stop at the lines where they are—the battle lines,” which would see Moscow keep large parts of Ukrainian territory.
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Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
Trump’s comments suggest he has shifted his position from last month when he said Kyiv could recapture all the territories occupied by Russia, which includes the annexed Crimean Peninsula and other partially occupied areas in eastern Ukraine.
During their meeting on Friday, Zelensky renewed his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles, which he said the U.S. president would neither back nor oppose, despite suggesting earlier that Kyiv might receive them.
Yuriy Boyechko, the CEO of Hope for Ukraine, told Newsweek that this public reversal meant Kyiv would not have the game-changing military support it had hoped for and that the resolution of the conflict was shifting from the battlefield to advisory meetings and talks.
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What To Know
Two days after the meeting between Trump and Zelensky in Washington, the U.S. president was asked whether he had told his Ukrainian counterpart that he needed to cede all of the Donbas region.
Trump replied that this had not been discussed, adding that both sides should stop “at the lines where they are” and that the rest would be tough to negotiate.
When asked what should happen to the Donbas region, Trump replied that it should be “cut the way it is,” with the majority occupied by Russia, and then there could be negotiations “later on down the line.”
Trump later endorsed a freeze of the current front lines, but the Financial Times reported that the leaders’ meeting was “acrimonious” and seemed to reflect the U.S. president’s willingness to endorse Putin’s maximalist demands.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X on Sunday that Zelensky should not be pressured into territorial concessions and that “appeasement never was a road to a just and lasting peace.”
The Washington Post previously reported that Putin had reiterated his demand that Ukraine cede all of the Donetsk oblast in return for the surrender of some regions in southern Ukraine, although the exact terms of the reported deal were unclear.
In August, Putin demanded the rest of Donetsk in exchange for a ceasefire. This would have favored Moscow, handing the Kremlin an area that would take years for it to capture under its current progress.
Boyechko, whose Hope for Ukraine organization provides support to communities in the war’s front line, said the most important part of the Washington meeting was to get a commitment from the U.S. to provide Tomahawks, and this was not forthcoming.
Trump has cited the need for preserving U.S. stockpiles in a reversal that has left Kyiv without the support it had hoped for to end the war and “effectively locked Ukraine into a diplomatic black hole—a drawn-out, low-yield negotiating process,” Boyechko said.
What People Are Saying
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday: “They should stop right now at the battle lines. Go home, stop killing people, and be done.”
He added, speaking of the Donbas region: “Let it be cut the way… is. ... They can negotiate something later on down the line.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X: “None of us should put pressure on Zelensky when it comes to territorial concessions. We should all put pressure on Russia to stop its aggression. Appeasement never was a road to a just and lasting peace.”
Yuriy Boyechko, the CEO of Hope for Ukraine, told Newsweek: “The most important outcome of President Zelensky’s visit to Washington is a negative one—the failure to secure a firm commitment for long-range Tomahawk missiles.”
What Happens Next
Eyes now turn to the proposed summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest, Hungary, although no date has been set.
Marc Loustau, an affiliated fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Central European University, told Newsweek, “It’s fruitless to speculate whether, by agreeing to the summit, Putin is serious about peace or Trump can secure a ceasefire.”
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