Putin’s condition for halting the war in Ukraine
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Russian president conveyed this offer to Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy.
Under the proposal, Putin offered a full ceasefire if Ukraine agreed to withdraw its military forces from the entire eastern Donetsk region.
According to such an agreement, Russia would retain control over Donetsk, Luhansk, and the Crimean Peninsula.
The Wall Street Journal noted that some Ukrainian and European officials viewed Putin’s proposal with skepticism, saying it was a ploy to evade the sanctions and tariffs President Donald Trump had pledged to impose against Russia if a ceasefire deal was not reached by Friday — the deadline he had set for Putin.
On Friday, Trump announced that he would meet with Putin at a time and location to be determined, but he made no reference to Putin’s proposal.
According to the report, if accepted, the plan would be implemented in two phases. In the first phase, Ukrainian forces would withdraw from Donetsk, and the front lines would be frozen. In the second phase, Putin and Trump would draft a final peace plan to be negotiated later with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Wall Street Journal cited a Ukrainian official who was present during the first phone call — in which Trump also participated — as saying that Kyiv was not fundamentally opposed to the proposal, but insisted that a ceasefire would be a prerequisite for any further steps.
Zelensky has previously stated that he would only discuss territorial matters with Putin after Russia agreed to a full and unconditional ceasefire.
A week earlier, Trump told Newsmax that if no deal was reached, he was prepared to impose sanctions on Russia by Friday. However, he added that Putin “is very good at sanctions. He knows how to avoid them.”
The Wall Street Journal wrote that on Friday, President Trump announced he would meet with Putin in Alaska on August 15 following Putin’s proposal. He gave no further details about the meeting or its exact location.