Zelensky rejected Putin's and Trump's plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the proposal of Russian leader Vladimir Putin for Ukraine to withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as part of a peace plan also supported by Donald Trump, reports Reuters. Zelensky clearly stated that such an option is not possible, writes Index.hr.

After meeting with Putin in Alaska, Trump spoke with Zelensky on the phone for over an hour and a half. NATO leaders, as well as some European leaders, also joined the conversation.

According to sources familiar with the conversation, Trump conveyed to Zelensky that Putin is ready to stop fighting on other fronts if Ukraine withdraws from the east of the country. Zelensky rejected this, emphasizing that there will be no withdrawal from Donbas.

According to foreign media reports, Putin demanded at the summit that Ukraine withdraw from the Donetsk region in exchange for freezing the front in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The "New York Times" then reported that Trump supports this plan and believes that peace can be achieved quickly if Ukraine agrees to cede the rest of Donbas, including territories not currently held by Russian forces.

Trump and Zelensky are expected to meet on Monday at the White House. European leaders have also been invited to the meeting, although it has not yet been confirmed who will attend.

As a reminder, Zelensky explicitly rejected the possibility of withdrawing from Donbas last week as well.

"If we withdraw from Donbas today – from our fortifications, from the terrain and heights we hold, it is clear that we would open the way for the Russians for a new offensive," said the Ukrainian president.

Such a plan would also contradict the warnings of European leaders that any peace agreement must respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and the principle that international borders cannot be changed by force. In addition, any such proposal would have to be approved by the Ukrainian parliament.

See all the details about the historic meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska in our blog from yesterday.

Read what Putin and Trump said at the press conference in our separate article.

A map shows that Putin's flight to Alaska was the most tracked in the world.

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrived in Alaska yesterday, and the provocative t-shirt he was wearing attracted the attention of all media.

Trump and Putin met at the Elemendorf-Richardson US military base, the largest in Alaska, which houses the most powerful US weapons.