Exclusive: Putin to demand Ukraine cede new territory in 'Alaska peace plan' — US likely to agree, Kyiv to reject
US President Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)
War
At their meeting next week, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss a peace plan that would see Ukraine surrendering new territories to Russia.
Putin passed the plan to special envoy Steve Witkoff during their meeting in Moscow earlier this week.
The plan would see Kyiv withdraw its troops from two of the partly occupied Ukrainian regions — Donetsk and Luhansk, according to a source in Ukraine's President's Office, who was part of the team briefed on the discussion Putin had with Witkoff. He spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely on the sensitive matter.
As a "sign of good will," Russia would then withdraw its troops from northeastern Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts, where the Kremlin holds some territories.
Putin had apparently told Witkoff that Russia would be content with the current demarcation line in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, where Russia controls the majority of the region, yet lacks control of the regional capitals.
According to the source in Ukraine's President's Office, the plan would be outright rejected by Ukraine.
"Who would even give the military such an order to withdraw?" the source added. The same source, however, said that Trump’s swift announcement of the meeting with Putin on Aug. 15 suggests the U.S. had “de facto” agreed to the proposal.
"The Russians are now trying to spread the word that we are rejecting 'Trump's wonderful plan,' but the thing is that it’s the Russians' plan — territory in exchange for a ceasefire," the source added.
Trump announced on Aug. 8 that he will hold a meeting with Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15.
Trump told reporters hours prior to the announcement that a potential peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv would likely include "some swapping of territories."
"Well you're looking at territory that's been fought over for three-and-a-half years... So we're looking at that, but we're actually looking to get some back," Trump said during a press conference alongside the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. "Some swapping, it's complicated."
"We're going to get some back. We're going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both," Trump added.
Zelensky firmly rejected on Aug. 9 the idea of ceding any Ukrainian territory to end Russia's war.
"The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question is already in Ukraine's Constitution. No one will deviate from this — and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelensky said.
Zelensky emphasized that Ukrainians deserve peace but a "dignified" one, and said Kyiv's partners must understand this principle.
Senior officials from Ukraine, the U.K., the U.S. and the EU will meet in London on Aug. 9 to discuss the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote following his call with Zelensky.
Zelensky, along with European leaders, held a phone call with Trump on Aug. 6, after Witkoff’s Moscow visit.
While Zelensky didn't share the details of the call, a flurry of diplomatic activity had taken place ever since.
Zelensky spoke with the leaders of the U.K., France, Denmark, Estonia, and the EU, among others, over the last 24 hours.
"There are a lot of discussions happening right now," a diplomat from one of the G7 countries told the Kyiv Independent.
Russia illegally declared ownership over Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 and over four other regions — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson — in 2022 after its full-scale invasion, moves widely condemned by the global community.
As of August 2025, Russia controls nearly the entirety of Luhansk Oblast, and over 70% of the remaining three — Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. It also controls the regional capital, Donetsk.
The Kremlin has been on the offensive since 2023, with its main focus being the war-torn Donetsk Oblast, where Moscow has focused on taking the cities of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.
