President Donald Trump nearly walked away from negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Alaska summit when the Kremlin leader demanded complete control over Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, according to Axios.
Putin presented maximalist demands regarding five disputed Ukrainian oblasts during the meeting on 15 August, with particular focus on Donetsk, where Russia currently controls approximately 75% of the territory, according to the reports. The Russian president wanted all of it.
“If Donetsk is the thing here and if there is no give, we should just not prolong this,” Trump told Putin during the talks, according to a source cited by Axios. Putin reportedly backed off the demand following Trump’s threat to end negotiations.
The Alaska summit represents the opening phase of Trump’s diplomatic strategy to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Administration advisers describe the approach as focused on bringing both leaders to direct negotiations rather than securing an immediate ceasefire.
“Everything else is foreplay,” a Trump adviser told Axios. “Everything is to get to that moment for peace.”
The administration has outlined a three-step process: securing bilateral agreements with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately, followed by trilateral talks involving all parties. Trump is scheduled to meet with Zelenskyy in Washington on 18 August.
US intelligence assessments present conflicting timelines for Russian military capabilities. One evaluation suggests Putin could capture all of Donetsk by October, while another predicts a more difficult and inconclusive campaign.
Putin agreed for the first time that the US and European allies could provide “security guarantees” to prevent further Russian aggression, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff said on 17 August.
“It would be a very big move by the President if he were to offer a US commitment to a security guarantee,” Rubio said on Fox News.
When asked whether such guarantees could include US troops stationed in Ukraine, one Trump adviser privately confirmed the possibility to Axios, while another said the details remained unclear.
Reuters previously reported Putin’s ceasefire demands from Alaska, which include Ukraine withdrawing its forces from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts entirely.
Rubio emphasized Sunday that the US would not pressure Ukraine to surrender territory as part of any peace agreement. Zelenskyy has stated that negotiations must address the current front lines and that Ukraine’s Constitution prevents territorial concessions or land exchanges.
The Alaska summit concluded abruptly, with Trump departing Anchorage so quickly that administration officials left summit materials on a hotel printer, NPR reported. A planned working lunch between the leaders was canceled.
“20,000 Russian soldiers were killed last month, in July, in this war,” Rubio told CBS. “That just tells you the price they’re willing to pay. It’s a meat grinder, and [the Russians] just have more meat to grind.”