Donald Trump has suggested the best way to end the war in Ukraine would be to “cut up” the country’s Donbas region, leaving most of it under Russian control, after reportedly pushing Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a White House meeting to give up swaths of territory.
“Let it be cut the way it is,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “It’s cut up right now,” he said, adding that both sides should “stop at the battle line – go home, stop fighting, stop killing people”.
The comments came after a tense meeting with the Ukrainian president on Friday, during which Zelenskyy failed to secure long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles after weeks of lobbying. Trump’s remarks also mark an abrupt turnaround from September, when he said Ukraine could take back all its territory and even “go further” into Russian lands.
According to two people briefed on the discussion, Trump pushed Zelenskyy behind the scenes to cede territory to Russia. The sources said US special envoy Steve Witkoff was among those who most aggressively urged the Ukrainians to agree to a “swap” proposal, reportedly put forward by Putin, in which Ukraine would cede Donetsk and Luhansk in return for Russia pulling out of small parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
In a Fox News interview conducted on Thursday, Trump said Putin “is going to take something” because “he’s won certain property”. He reiterated this stance on Sunday evening, saying the fighting should “stop at the lines where they are”. When asked if he had told Zelenskyy that Ukraine must cede all of the Donbas region, Trump said no.
Zelenskyy responded on social media, writing: “Ukraine will never grant terrorists any bounty for their crimes, and we count on our partners to uphold this very position.”
