Russia ‘snubs’ Trump’s plan to freeze Ukraine frontline as Don says Kyiv ‘can’t win war,’ after fiery Zelensky meeting
VLADIMIR Putin has rejected the peace proposal Donald Trump tabled after his White House meeting with President Zelensky descended into a shouting match.
Trump on Sunday suggested simply freezing the frontline and taking that as the new borders – which would mean Ukraine handing vast swathes to Russia.
The US President said on Sunday: “We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are — the battle lines.”
This would give Putin almost full control of the Donbas – which he has demanded as a condition for ending the war – but for a small stronghold still under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk oblast.
Russia has so far failed to capture Ukraine’s sturdy “fortress belt” – but is adamant that any peace settlement will see it handed over.
Despite Trump’s proposition giving Putin almost everything he wants, the stubborn Kremlin has rejected it.
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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “This topic was repeatedly raised in various forms during contacts between Russia and the US.
“The Russian side answered every time, this answer is well known: the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change.”
So it seems that neither side was willing to get behind Trump’s latest peace-brokering effort.
Meanwhile, Trump publicly said does not believe Ukraine will win the war – after reportedly warning behind closed doors that Moscow could crush Kyiv.
During Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the White House, Trump said: “I don’t think they will [win it].”
But he then added: “They could still win it, I never said they would win it… War is a very strange thing, a lot of bad things happen.”
The closed-door White House meeting on Sunday ended with Trump shouting and swearing at Zelensky as he told him to accept Putin’s terms for ending the war, sources told the Financial Times.
They claimed that Trump’s position had been influenced with a last-minute call he held with Putin the previous day – and which resulted in another planned meeting between the US and Russian leaders.
The paper was told that Trump regurgitated to Zelensky the points pushed by Putin – including that Ukraine surrender the entire Donbas region to end the war.
But Trump insisted on Sunday that he “never discussed” Ukraine giving up more land, and that he instead wants to see new borders drawn at the current battle lines.
He said: “We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are — the battle lines.
“The rest is very tough to negotiate if you’re going to say: ‘You take this, we take that.’ There are just so many different permutations.
“So what I say is they should stop right now at the battle lines. Go home, stop killing people and be done.”
Trump’s head-to-head with Putin will happen in Budapest at some point over the next few weeks – and Zelensky says he’s ready to join if asked.
The Ukrainian president said on Monday: “If it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it’s called, shuttle diplomacy… then in one format or another, we will agree.”
Trump and Putin previously met during a summit in Alaska over the summer, and Zelensky then rushed to Washington in the following days.
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There has been no indication that Zelensky will be invited to the imminent Trump-Putin meeting.
During Zelensky’s visit on Friday, Trump said he would continue to mediate between the two leaders who “don’t like each other”, and “keep a little distance” between them.