Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia wants Ukraine to withdraw from the entire eastern region of Donetsk as part of a ceasefire deal, in advance of a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and United States President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, where issues of giving up land to end the war will be focal.
Zelenskyy revealed the demand on Tuesday, before reiterating that Kyiv, which still controls 9,000 square kilometres (3,500 square miles) of Ukraine’s Donetsk, where the fiercest fighting of the war is currently taking place, would not agree to this stipulation, as it was unconstitutional and would incentivise future Russian aggression.
