According to the Washington Post, Vladimir Putin demanded the handover of the entire Donetsk region in exchange for peace in a phone call with Donald Trump. Two senior sources told the paper that in exchange, the Russian president would be willing to give up occupied territory in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.

Putin has been trying to capture the Donetsk region since 2014. The Russian army and Russian-backed separatists have seized parts of the region but have yet to gain full control. Ukrainians have dug in deep in what they see as their main bulwark against a Russian advance toward Kiev.

According to the newspaper's sources, Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, tried to convince the Ukrainians to hand over the entire region to Putin at a U.S.-Ukraine meeting on Friday. He argued that the majority of the region's residents speak Russian. However, being a native Russian does not automatically mean that a person sympathizes with Russia in Ukraine.

According to sources, Ukraine would only be willing to recognize the de facto handover of the territories occupied by the Russians, and only if it receives strong security guarantees that Russia will not restart the war.

Neither the American, Russian, or Ukrainian governments have publicly commented on Putin's demand so far.