Category: 2. World

Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters.

The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Speaking afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine – but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed.

Read More: Russia seeks say in Ukraine peace deal

In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin’s offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people.

In essence, the Russian sources said, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024, which required Kyiv to cede the entirety of the four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia: Dontesk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine – which make up the Donbas – plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender.

In his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they added.

Russia controls about 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to US estimates and open-source data.

Moscow is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources said.

Putin is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the US-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources said.

The district her village is in – Huairou – and neighbouring Miyun district, just on the outskirts of Beijing, received a year’s worth of rain in a single week.

Yet the two sides remain far apart, more than three years after Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion that followed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and prolonged fighting in the country’s east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the proposals.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine.

“If we’re talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that,” he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. “It is a matter of our country’s survival, involving the strongest defensive lines.”

Joining NATO, meanwhile, is a strategic objective enshrined in the country’s constitution and one which Kyiv sees as its most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskiy said it was not up to Russia to decide on the alliance’s membership.

The White House and NATO didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the Russian proposals.

Political scientist Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, a US-based global policy think-tank, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained a non-starter for Kyiv, both politically and strategically.

“Openness to ‘peace’ on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise,” he added. “The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details.”

Trump: Putin wants to see it ended

Russian forces currently control a fifth of Ukraine, an area about the size of the American state of Ohio, according to U.S. estimates and open-source maps.

The three sources close to the Kremlin said the summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage had ushered in the best chance for peace since the war began because there had been specific discussions about Russia’s terms and Putin had shown a willingness to give ground.

“Putin is ready for peace – for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump,” one of the people said.

The sources cautioned that it was unclear to Moscow whether Ukraine would be prepared to cede the remains of the Donbas, and that if it did not then the war would continue. Also unclear was whether or not the United States would give any recognition to Russian-held Ukrainian territory, they added.

A fourth source said that though economic issues were secondary for Putin, he understood the economic vulnerability of Russia and the scale of the effort needed to go far further into Ukraine.

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Trump has said he wants to end the “bloodbath” of the war and be remembered as a “peacemaker president”. He said on Monday he had begun arranging, opens new tab a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the US president.

“I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended,” Trump said beside Zelenskiy in the Oval office. “I feel confident we are going to get it solved.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet Zelenskiy but that all issues had to be worked through first and there was a question about Zelenskiy’s authority to sign a peace deal.

Putin has repeatedly raised doubts about Zelenskiy’s legitimacy as his term in office was due to expire in May 2024 but the war means no new presidential election has yet been held. Kyiv says Zelenskiy remains the legitimate president.

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have said they are sceptical that Putin wants to end the war.

Security guarantees for Ukraine

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was instrumental in paving the way for the summit, and the latest drive for peace, according to two of the Russian sources.

Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on August 6 with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. At the meeting, Putin conveyed clearly to Witkoff that he was ready to compromise and set out the contours of what he could accept for peace, according to two Russian sources.

If Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement, then there are various options for a formal deal – including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-U.S. deal that is recognised by the UN Security Council, one of the sources said.

Another option is to go back to the failed 2022 Istanbul agreements, where Russia and Ukraine discussed Ukraine’s permanent neutrality in return for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the sources added.

“There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war,” one of the people said.

A US State Department official on Thursday said that continuous vetting applies to “all of the more than 55 million foreigners who currently hold valid United States visas”, including those who have already been admitted to enter the country.

“The State Department revokes visas any time there are indications of a potential ineligibility, which includes things like any indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organisation,” the official said.

In a written comment to The Associated Press, the official said that if a visa holder presents these indications, their visa will be revoked and they will be subject to deportation if they are already in the US.

US President Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a focus of his presidency, boosting resources to secure the border and arresting people in the country illegally.

Earlier this month, the US government announced that it could require bonds of up to $15,000 for some tourist and business visas under a pilot programme to crack down on visitors who overstay their visas.

The programme gives US consular officers the discretion to impose bonds on visitors from countries with high rates of visa overstays, according to a Federal Register notice, which adds that bonds could also be applied to people coming from countries where screening and vetting information is deemed insufficient.

In July, US broadcaster CNN reported that the US would soon require international visitors to pay a “visa integrity fee” of at least $250, a new addition to existing visa application costs, according to a provision in the Trump administration’s domestic policy bill.

The fee is to be paid at the time visas are issued. Although there will be no fee waivers for the payment, the provision states that travellers who comply with the terms of their visa can have the fee reimbursed after their trip.

In June, United States consulates in Karachi and Lahore requested that all applicants for F, M or J nonimmigrant visas make their social media accounts public for vetting.

US consular officers are now required to conduct a “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of all student and exchange visitor applicants to identify those who “bear hostile attitudes toward our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”, said a US diplomatic cable.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran on Thursday launched its first solo military exercises since its June war with Israel, state media reported, seeking to reassert an image of strength after suffering heavy losses.

Navy units of Iran’s regular armed forces fired missiles and drones at open water targets in the Indian Ocean under the “Sustainable Power 1404” drill, state television reported.

“These drills take place around a month after the Iran-Russia drill under the name Casarex 2025 which took place in Iran’s northern waters (Caspian Sea). The Sustainable Power drills…are in Iran’s southern waters,” state TV said.

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday urged the UK to back Lebanon’s request to the UN Security Council for the renewal of the mandate for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, the international peacekeeping force in the south of the country.

He stressed the important role it plays in upholding the ceasefire agreement with Israel and efforts to guarantee regional stability.

He reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to the continued presence of UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon and told the British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hamish Cowell, that he “attaches great importance to the UK’s support for his position calling on the Security Council to extend UNIFIL’s mandate, both to ensure the full implementation of Resolution 1701, and to enable the complete deployment of the Lebanese Army along Lebanon’s internationally recognized borders.”

Resolution 1701 was adopted by the Security Council in 2006 with the aim of resolving the conflict that year between Israel and Hezbollah. It calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, the withdrawal of Hezbollah and other forces from southern Lebanon, and the disarmament of Hezbollah and other armed groups.

The Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss the annual extension of UNIFIL’s mandate to assist in the deployment of the Lebanese Army in the south, and work to ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The extension talks this time differ from previous years as a result of major shifts on the ground, including the occupation by Israeli forces of five strategic hills in southern Lebanon during their recent ground offensive against Hezbollah.

The ceasefire agreement that halted this conflict, which called for the full withdrawal of Hezbollah from areas south of the Litani River and the deployment of the Lebanese Army there, also contributed to a decline in US support for UN efforts in Lebanon, particularly UNIFIL.

Cowell reaffirmed the UK’s support for Lebanon during this critical period, including efforts to enhance stability and strengthen the capabilities of the Lebanese Army.

The Security Council initially granted UNIFIL its mandate more than 47 years ago, and it has been monitoring the situation along Lebanon’s volatile border with Israel since the 1970s. The size of the force increased after the 2006 war to about 10,000 peacekeepers from more than 47 countries.

The assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki met President Aoun and other Lebanese officials during a visit to Beirut on Thursday.

Zaki said he conveyed the League’s support for recent moves by Lebanese authorities to exert their authority over all Lebanese territory, and to restrict possession of weapons to the state, noting that “such principles are stipulated in Arab League resolutions, particularly the most recent resolution issued at the Baghdad Summit a few months ago.”

He called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory it occupies and refrain from any actions that violate Lebanese sovereignty.

“All relevant parties, particularly the US, have been informed, through Ambassador Thomas Barrack, that what is now required is Israel’s commitment to withdraw from the areas it occupies in southern Lebanon, return prisoners, and fully implement Resolution 1701,” Zaki said.

“Only then can the necessary conditions be created for the Lebanese state to extend its sovereignty, through its own armed forces, to all territories up to the internationally recognized borders.”

He also welcomed Lebanon’s commitment to the enforcement of exclusive state control over weaponry in a manner that protects the interests of all Lebanese citizens.

Zaki addressed what he described as the ongoing “media squabbling” in Lebanon over the efforts to ensure non-state groups surrender their weapons, Hezbollah’s refusal to disarm and the group’s resultant threats of unrest and civil war. He said the issue must be handled with caution, as “no one wants to see the country slide into a situation with undesirable consequences.”

He also emphasized the need to restore stability and civil peace in Lebanon, and to pursue policies that ensure the state sovereignty over all of its territory.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is facing a campaign by Hezbollah supporters who have accused him of treason over the call for Hezbollah and other militias to disarm.

A banner with words “A collaborator has no sect and no religion” was raised alongside a road in the Hermel area accusing him of working with Israel. It was signed by “the clans and families of Hermel.”

However, the “clans of Baalbek-Hermel” subsequently issued a statement in which they said “banners that incite strife do not represent our clans or our values.”

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi has also been accused of treason after he said that “the resistance’s slogan has collapsed and the words of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem are political rhetoric.”

MP Samy Gemayel, the leader of the Kataeb Party, speaking after a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, said: “We condemn the accusations of treason against our patriarch, which are unacceptable as they aim to undermine all efforts for consensus and solutions, including those proposed by Berri through his attempts to find common ground.”

He also rejected “any marginalization of the Shiite community, which must be a partner in building the new Lebanon.”

In other developments, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported that Lebanon had returned an Israeli citizen, Saleh Abu-Hussein, who had been detained in Lebanon for more than a year, to Israel through the Ras Al-Naqoura border crossing.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “The return was carried out following negotiations with the help of the Red Cross.”

Security sources said Abu-Hussein is a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship from the Rumana area of Galilee Region, who suffers from mental health issues.

“His family does not know how he arrived in Lebanon,” the sources said. “He was detained in Lebanon in July last year after he entered Lebanese territory and requested water, and was subsequently handed over to the Lebanese General Security.”

David Lammy has joined 20 other foreign ministers around the world in condemning Israeli plans to build an illegal settlement on the West Bank, with the Foreign Office summoning the Israeli ambassador to communicate the government’s displeasure.

The foreign secretary co-signed a joint statement on Thursday criticising the so-called E1 plan, a 3,400-home settlement that critics say would divide the West Bank in half.

Officials then summoned Tzipi Hotovely to the Foreign Office in a rare public rebuke for the Israeli ambassador. The actions marked a further intensification of recent international criticism for Israel over its tactics in Gaza and the West Bank.

The statement, which was signed by 21 countries including the UK, Australia, Canada and France, said: “The decision by the Israeli higher planning committee to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, east of Jerusalem, is unacceptable and a violation of international law. We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms.”

In a separate statement, the Foreign Office confirmed it had summoned Hotovely in a display of public criticism. “If implemented, these settlement plans would be a flagrant breach of international law and would divide a future Palestinian state in two, critically undermining a two-state solution,” the department said in a statement.

It did not say which minister or official had met Hotovely or what was said in the meeting. The Israeli embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

Israel announced on Wednesday it had approved plans to build the major new block in the West Bank, with the deliberate intention – according to Israel’s far-right finance minster, Bezalel Smotrich – of preventing the creation of a Palestinian state.

Smotrich on Wednesday called the decision to approve the settlement a “significant step that practically erases the two-state delusion and consolidates the Jewish people’s hold on the heart of the land of Israel”.

The proposals would extend the Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Adumim towards Jerusalem, further separating occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank, and dividing the north and south of the territory.

The statement by the 21 foreign ministers said: “Minister Smotrich says this plan will make a two-state solution impossible by dividing any Palestinian state and restricting Palestinian access to Jerusalem. This brings no benefits to the Israeli people. Instead, it risks undermining security and fuels further violence and instability, taking us further away from peace.”

British officials say Israel’s renewed expansionism in the West Bank has played a critical role in pushing them into a decision to recognise Palestine as an independent state. Keir Starmer said last month he would issue formal recognition before next month’s UN general assembly, unless Israel committed to a ceasefire and a two-state solution.

The international community has also expressed outrage over Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, with the UN assistant secretary general, Miroslav Jenča, warning it would cause “forced displacement, killings and destruction”.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday that Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed them to accelerate the planned assault on Gaza City, the prospect of which has already prompted thousands of Palestinians to flee.

On Thursday the UK was one of 27 countries to sign a separate statement demanding that international journalists be given access to Gaza to allow them to cover the “unfolding humanitarian catastrophe” in the war zone.

The statement from the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC), an international advocacy group that the UK helped to create, said: “We … urge Israel to allow immediate independent foreign media access and afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza.”

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‘I feel left behind’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he could meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but only after his allies agree on security guarantees for Ukraine to deter future Russian attacks once the fighting stops.

In comments released Thursday, he also warned that both sides were preparing for further fighting. Russia was building up troops on the southern front line and Ukraine was test-launching a new long-range cruise missile, he said.

Russia said Thursday that Ukraine did not appear to be interested in “long-term” peace, accusing Kyiv of seeking security guarantees completely incompatible with Moscow’s demands.

U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to end Russia’s three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine through talks with Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Putin.

While he has upended a years-long Western policy of isolating the Russian leader, he has made little tangible progress towards a peace deal.

“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days,” Zelensky said, in comments to reporters released for publication Thursday.

“We need to understand which country will be ready to do what at each specific moment,” he added.

A group of allies led by Britain and France are putting together a military coalition to support the guarantees.

Fresh Russian barrage

Once an outline of the security guarantees is agreed upon, Mr. Trump would like to see a bilateral meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader said.

But any meeting with the Russian leader should he held in a “neutral” European country, he added, ruling out any summit in Moscow.

He also rejected the idea of China playing a role in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security, citing Beijing’s alleged support for Moscow.

Mr. Zelenskyy’s comments came as Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight — the biggest barrage since mid-July — killing one person in the western city of Lviv and wounding many others.

Russian missiles also targeted an American-owned factory complex in town of Mukachevo in the west of Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on social media. That attack wounded 19 people, she added.

President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine Andy Hunder said that the factory was “one of the largest American investments in Ukraine.

“Russia continues to destroy and humiliate U.S. businesses in Ukraine, targeting companies that invest and trade on the US stock markets,” Hunder said on Facebook.

France on Thursday condemned the overnight strikes as showing Moscow’s “lack of will to seriously engage in peace talks”, describing them as the “most massive attack in a month”.

A later shelling of the city of Kherson killed one person and wounded more than a dozen, a local official said.

Russia claims advances

On the front lines, Russia said it had captured the village of Oleksandro-Shultyne in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a long string of territorial gains.

The village lies less than eight kilometres (five miles) from Kostiantynivka, a fortified town in the Donetsk region that Russia has been pressing towards on both sides.

In comments to journalists Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of making unrealistic security demands.

Any deployment of European troops to the country would be “absolutely unacceptable”, he said.

Rhetorics of the Ukrainian officials “was directly showing that they are not interested in a sustainable, fair, long-term settlement,” Lavrov added.

Mr. Zelenskyy also announced that Ukraine had tested a long-range cruise missile, known as Flamingo, that can strike targets as far as 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) away.

“The missile has undergone successful tests. It is currently our most successful missile,” he told reporters.

Mass production could begin by February, he added.

Since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January and began pushing for an end to the fighting, Russian forces have continued to slowly but steadily gain ground across the front line.

Zelensky said Russian forces were building up troops along the front in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims as its own — along with four other Ukrainian regions.

Trump met Putin in Alaska last Friday, before bringing Zelensky and European leaders to Washington for separate talks on Monday.

Mr. Zelenskyy has said the only way to end the war is a meeting with Mr. Putin, and has said Mr. Trump should be present too.

But Moscow has played down the prospect of a summit between Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelenskyy any time soon, saying it wants to be included in discussions on future security guarantees for Ukraine.

Published – August 21, 2025 09:59 pm IST