The U.S. is insisting that Ukraine abandon the Donbas "one way or another" — a demand that has become the major sticking point in peace talks between Washington and Kyiv, Politico reports, citing a high-ranking European official.
"On the territorial issue, the Americans are simple: Russia demands Ukraine surrender territory, and the Americans keep thinking about how to make that happen," the source told the publication.
Kyiv is pushing to freeze the war along the current front line, where approximately 30% of the Donbas remains under Ukrainian control. "Overall, the most realistic option is to stand where we are. But the Russians are pressuring Kyiv to hand over territories," the European official noted.
Donald Trump stated at a Kennedy Center ceremony on Sunday: "Russia would probably like to have the whole country, if you think about it. But Russia, I believe, is happy with the [U.S.] plan, but I’m not sure Zelensky is happy. His people like it, but he hasn’t read it."
Zelensky told Bloomberg that the U.S. and Ukraine have reached no agreement regarding the country's east. Kyiv explains to the Americans: giving Putin what he failed to capture in three years of war will only encourage him to take more.
"Trump might also want this to happen quickly, so his team is forced to explain to him that they aren't to blame for it not moving as fast as he wanted," the European official added.
Ukraine is also awaiting clarity on the security guarantees the U.S. is prepared to provide. "So it is important how America behaves — as a mediator, or will it lean toward the Russians?" the Politico source concluded.
The Trump administration's peace plan for Ukraine has been the subject of long and contentious negotiations between Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow. According to ABC News, during a closed-door meeting in Florida on November 30, the U.S. and Ukraine failed to reach an agreement on the territorial issue — Russia is demanding Kyiv surrender parts of the unoccupied Donbas. The initial 28-point plan was whittled down to 19 points following consultations in Geneva, yet key disagreements remain.
The Times reports that the latest round of talks between Washington and Moscow yielded no progress — the Kremlin maintained all its maximalist demands. The publication assesses that Putin is deliberately stalling negotiations to shift the mood within the Trump team and turn the American president against Zelensky. CNN highlights the "atypical" team of negotiators Trump sent to Moscow — business partner Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, neither of whom holds an official position.
Le Monde notes that Witkoff spends more time with Putin than with Kyiv, while European diplomats compare the negotiations to a game of Jokari — "the ball regularly comes back." At the same time, the European Union has drawn a "red line" for Trump's peace initiative: no amnesty for Russia regarding war crimes.