President Vladimir Putin has again drawn a hard line over Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, insisting that Kyiv’s forces must withdraw or Russia will take the territory by force. In an interview with India Today ahead of a state visit, he dismissed the idea of compromise, saying simply: “Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave.” Moscow already controls roughly 85 percent of the region.
Ukraine has repeatedly rejected any proposal that involves handing over territory, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his country will not trade land for an uneasy peace.
Putin’s comments landed just as Donald Trump’s peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, wrapped up talks in Moscow. Trump, who said the discussions were “reasonably good,” suggested that Putin “would like to end the war,” though he admitted that meaningful movement remains elusive. Witkoff is expected to brief Ukraine’s negotiators next in Florida.
The Kremlin says it is waiting for Washington’s reaction to the latest discussions. Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov noted there were no plans for a call between Trump and the Russian president, nor a date for further meetings. He also confirmed that no compromise emerged from Tuesday’s sessions. Moscow, he hinted, feels strengthened by what it describes as recent battlefield gains.
The US plan itself is evolving. Its original version proposed placing remaining Ukrainian-held parts of Donbas under Moscow’s de facto control—an approach that alarmed Kyiv and several European capitals. A revised draft was presented in Moscow, though Putin said he had not seen it before meeting Witkoff and Jared Kushner, prompting a line-by-line review. Moscow objected to several points, though Putin did not specify which.
European leaders, according to a confidential transcript reported by Der Spiegel, worry that Washington might press Ukraine into territorial concessions without firm security guarantees—concerns publicly denied by some of the leaders cited, but not clarified in detail.
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Kyiv remains wary. Ukraine’s foreign minister said Putin was “wasting the world’s time,” and Zelensky has insisted that any negotiation must be anchored in pressure on Moscow, not incentives. Ukrainian officials say they have already secured important revisions to the US plan during talks last month in Geneva.
More than two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Moscow controls about a fifth of Ukraine. Russian troops have in recent weeks pushed forward in the southeast, despite heavy reported casualties. The battlefield, as much as the negotiating table, continues to shape the contours of any future deal.