Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The POTUS allegedly told Zelenskiy to accept the terms or risk being “destroyed” by the Russian invasion.
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that Russian leader Vladimir Putin should expect to retain some Ukrainian territory as part of any eventual peace agreement.
In an interview aired on Fox News on Oct. 19, Trump described Putin as having “won certain property” during the full-scale invasion, appearing to accept territorial loss for Ukraine as inevitable.
The remarks came just days after a phone call between the two leaders, held ahead of Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to The Kyiv Independent, it was recorded directly following Trump’s phone call with Putin.
“He’s going to take something”
The meeting with Zelensky reportedly ended without progress, as Ukraine failed to secure the long-sought Tomahawk missile systems.
Before his conversation with Putin, Trump had taken a tougher public line against Moscow. But speaking to host Maria Bartiromo, he struck a different tone, saying of Putin: “He’s going to take something.”
Trump did not reference international law or Ukraine’s sovereignty during the interview. Instead, he lamented that the United States “wins wars and then leaves,” contrasting his vision of a peace deal based on battlefield control with past U.S. military engagements in the Middle East.
Zelensky rejects any deal that cedes territory
After the meeting, Trump reiterated online that peace could be achieved if the “property lines” were defined by “war and guts.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky interpreted the comment as a call to freeze the conflict along current frontlines.
Speaking to NBC, he insisted that Kyiv would not surrender “any additional territory” to Moscow, and later affirmed in his nightly address: “We will give nothing to the aggressor.”
Reports from U.S. and European officials suggest that Russia is seeking full control of Donetsk Oblast as part of a settlement. According to The Washington Post, Putin told Trump he was willing to trade parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson for Donetsk.
The Financial Times later reported that Trump pressed Zelensky to accept such terms, with the discussion reportedly devolving into a shouting match.
Sources quoted by the FT claim Trump warned Zelensky that “if Putin wants it, he will destroy you.” Officials said Trump repeated several Kremlin talking points during the encounter, calling the invasion a “special operation” and praising Russia’s economy.
At one point, he allegedly threw aside a Ukrainian battlefield map, saying he was “sick of seeing these maps.”
Stop at the battle lines
Later that day, Reuters reported that Trump had proposed offering security guarantees to both Ukraine and Russia — a suggestion that caught Kyiv off guard. While Trump denied having told Zelensky to cede the Donbas, he admitted suggesting that both sides “stop at the battle lines,” claiming 78% of the disputed areas were already under Russian control.
Putin’s most recent proposal marks a shift from his earlier stance demanding all four occupied regions plus Crimea. Although described as a compromise, the plan would still force Ukraine to relinquish areas that Russian forces have yet to fully capture after years of fighting.
European leaders swiftly rejected the notion of territorial concessions. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that “appeasement has never been a road to a just and lasting peace,” stressing that pressure should be placed on Moscow, not Kyiv.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate has paused a bill to impose heavy tariffs on buyers of Russian oil, as the White House continues to weigh Trump’s planned follow-up meeting with Putin.
This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, which may have used AI in the preparation
