Vladimir Putin does not give up the grip and – strong of the advance in Ukraine and the embrace of Donald Trump in Alaska – does not seem to want to give in to a millimeter on his conditions for peace. Two above all: the control of Russia on the entire Donbass and the guarantee that Kiev will remain outside NATO. The leader of the Kremlin – As reported by various international media in the Summit of Anchorage, asked the American president for the withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from the south -eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (Donbass) partly occupied by the Russian invasion troops (that of Lugansk is almost completely), proposing to freeze the situation at the front in the other two Ukraine oblates and partially occupied and Illegally claimed by the Kremlin: the southern ones of Kherson and Zaporizhzia.
According to Reuters, Russia in return could return some territories occupied to Kiev in the north-eastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy: however, it would be about 440 square kilometers against 6,600 that Ukrainian forces control in Donbass. So far, Volodymyr Zelensky has responded with a dry ‘nor the hypothesis of giving in to give to Russia.
And he did it by underlining the strategic value of this area, where it has been fought since 2014 and it is believed that Kiev has important defensive structures. The Ukrainian president fears that such a sale can open the doors to a new offensive Rusaa in the future. And this is one of the central themes at the center of the interviews of the White House between Trump and Zelensky. But another question is that of the “security guarantees” for Kiev. According to the correspondent of the White House, Steve Witkoff, Putin would have said he was willing to discuss it, also on the possibility of fielding a sort of article 5 in NATO, the one that sanctions the collective defense principle of the participating countries: but without Ukraine entering the Atlantic alliance.
Finally, Moscow would also aim for a lightening of the sanctions imposed them from the West and the official recognition of Crimea as Russian. Putin would also like Russian to become an official language in Ukraine and would ask for measures that guarantee “safety for Russian Orthodox churches”. In Alaska, however, the Russian president also repeated his vague formula on the “profound causes” of the war: formula considered a reference not so much veiled to the claims of his regime to resize the Ukrainian military forces.