KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has firmly rejected a proposal that would see Ukraine withdraw from the roughly 30 percent of the Donetsk region still under its control in exchange for a ceasefire with Russia.

Speaking in Kyiv this week, Zelenskyy said such a concession would be unconstitutional, abandon thousands of Ukrainian citizens to occupation, and merely serve as a staging ground for a future Russian offensive.

According to Zelenskyy, the demand was conveyed through U.S. channels ahead of a planned summit on August 15 between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian leader said he was told by U.S. officials, including special envoy Steve Witkoff, that Russia was ready to end the war if both sides made territorial concessions. While the conversation implied that Putin wanted Ukraine to vacate Donbas, Zelenskyy stressed that the message did not come as a formal American demand.

Putin's reported offer would give Moscow control over the remaining 3,500 square miles of Donetsk still held by Kyiv, completing Russia's capture of nearly all of Donbas — Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland and a long-standing target of the Kremlin. The front lines there, including the city of Pokrovsk, have seen some of the war's most intense fighting. Military analysts warn Pokrovsk could fall within days, potentially cutting key Ukrainian supply routes.

Zelenskyy emphasized that any settlement must include binding security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression, a topic he said is absent from current diplomatic formats. He also criticized the proposed structure of ceasefire talks, which begin as a bilateral U.S.-Russia meeting before expanding to include Ukraine, but without direct participation from the European Union. Kyiv insists Europe's presence is essential because EU states are the only partners actively providing military funding and long-term security commitments.

European leaders have also been excluded from the Alaska summit, prompting them to urge Trump to safeguard their interests. On August 13, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz convened virtual meetings to coordinate a united front, warning that a Russian victory in Ukraine could embolden Putin to target other European states.

Trump has signaled openness to land swaps and hinted Ukraine might have to surrender some Russian-held territory. While he says he wants to test whether Putin is "serious" about ending the war — now in its fourth year — such comments have unsettled allies. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, warned that any ceasefire short of Russia's strategic defeat would be dictated on Moscow's terms, undermine international law, and embolden other aggressors.

Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, warned that Putin could seek to convince Trump to end the war by recognizing Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine — potentially extending beyond territories currently under occupation. He added that Trump might also ease or lift sanctions that have been inflicting "chronic pain" on Russia's economy.

The fall of Pokrovsk, meanwhile, would deliver a significant victory to Moscow just before the summit, while disrupting Ukraine's supply routes into Donetsk, the primary focus of Russia's ongoing military campaign.