Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded three conditions to achieving peace with Ukraine — he wants it to give up all of the eastern Donbas region, give up its NATO ambitions and remain neutral and keep Western forces out of the war-torn country, according to a report.
The Russian strongman outlined what it would take to end the more than three-year war during his high-stakes summit meeting in Alaska with President Trump last week, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters.
Russian sources insisted to Reuters that Putin has cut down on his territorial demands from June 2024 that included four provinces that Moscow believes is part of their country: Donetsk and Luhansk, which encompasses the Donbas in eastern Ukraine, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Acting Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region Maria Kostyuk in Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 20, 2025. via REUTERS
Now, Russia wants Ukraine to cede the parts of the Donbas it still controls and in return would stop fighting in the other two areas, the Russian sources said.
Currently, Russia controls about 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, US estimates and open-source data indicate.
Moscow is also willing to give Ukraine a small part of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions controlled by Russia as part of a possible agreement, according to the sources.
Putin is still sticking by his demand that Ukraine stop its bid to join NATO and a legally binding pledge from the alliance that it won’t move more eastwards.
Trump and Putin shake hands during a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025. REUTERS
He also remains steadfast on limits on the Ukrainian army and no boots on the ground from Western nations will be used as a peacekeeping force, the sources said.
“Putin is ready for peace — for compromise,” one of the sources said. “That is the message that was conveyed to Trump.”
Zelensky has said his country would not hand over internationally recognized Ukrainian land to Russia while asserting the Donbas region acts as a fortress stopping Russia from invading deeper into Ukraine.
“If we’re talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that,” he said Thursday. “It is a matter of our country’s survival, involving the strongest defensive lines.”
The Zakarpattia Region Prosecutor’s Office shows the site of a Russian strike on an industrial facility, after a massive overnight attack on Mukachevo, western Ukraine, on Aug. 21, 2025. ZAKARPATTIA REGION PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE/HANDOUT/EPA/Shutterstock
Meanwhile, he’s argued the country’s NATO ambitions, which are enshrined in its constitution, shouldn’t be determined by Russia.
It appears for now Putin and Zelensky won’t be communicating face-to-face with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov telling NBC News no meeting is planned between the two rivals.
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” he told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker.
Lavrov accused Ukraine of stalling any possible peace deal.
Zelensky signs the guest book in the Roosevelt Room before a meeting with President Trump, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. Daniel Torok/White House/UPI/Shutterstock
“President Putin said clearly that he is ready to meet provided this meeting is really going to have an agenda, presidential agenda,” he added.
Trump on Friday threatened “massive” sanctions and tariffs if Putin and Zelensky failed to set up a meeting to discuss peace negotiations.
“I’ll see whose fault it is. If there are reasons why, I would understand that,” Trump said.
A Ukrainian emergency worker battles a fire following a Russian air attack, in Lviv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Aug. 21, 2025. UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images
(From left) President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom, President Alexander Stubb of Finland, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, President Trump, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of the Italian Republic, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany and Mark Rutte, secretary-general of NATO, pose for a photo in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, DC. Shutterstock
“I know exactly what I’m doing. We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting — that will be interesting to see.”
Zelensky has said he is ready for a meeting with his adversary and accused Putin of holding up talks.
As attempts at diplomacy plays out, the two sides have continued the fighting with Ukrainian forces destroying a critical part of Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline overnight.
The key bombing comes as Russia has ramped up its attacks since the meeting between Putin and Trump.