Trump was asked if there is an “understanding” that Putin would get Donbas – he answered with a single word

Before heading for a state visit in China, Donald Trump spoke to reporters on May 12 where the situation in Ukraine came up.

Officials in Kyiv have been watching the US-led talks with a heavy dose of anxiety. They worried Washington might quietly agree to hand over the entirety of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region to Moscow.

When the press asked Trump directly whether he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had reached such an understanding, his response was immediate:

“No,” Trump said.

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Putin demands Donbas

The fate of the eastern territories remains the biggest hurdle to reaching a ceasefire.

Kyiv as refused seizing any territory to Russia as part of a peace agreement. Russia on the other hand insists that Ukrainian troops must pull back from specific parts of Donbas before it will sign any final settlement.

In December, Vladimir Putin said that Russia would take Donbas by force if Ukraine did not withdraw.

Despite this deep divide, the US president offered a highly optimistic assessment of the timeline.

“The end of the war in Ukraine… I really think it’s getting very close,” Trump told reporters on May 12.

Putin’s generals set autumn deadline

According to the Financial Times, Russia’s military commanders have presented a new timeline to their leader. They believe their forces can capture the entire Donbas region by the end of autumn.

The newspaper spoke with sources who interact personally with Vladimir Putin, alongside experts from Ukrainian intelligence.

At the current pace of advance, however, it could take Russia as much as 30 years to seize the entire region by force, according to a May 10 report from The New York Times.

Sources: White House press pool, Kremlin press service, TASS, The Kyiv Independent, Forbes, The New York Times

This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation