Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region—comprising Donetsk and Luhansk—renounce its bid to join NATO, adopt permanent neutrality and bar any Western troops from its territory, three sources familiar with Kremlin deliberations told Reuters. The demands were conveyed during a three-hour closed-door summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, on 15 Aug., the first Russia-U.S. talks at that level in more than four years. In return, Moscow would freeze the current front lines in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and is prepared to relinquish small pockets of territory it holds in Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk, the sources said. Russia already occupies about 88 % of Donbas and 73 % of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson—roughly one-fifth of Ukraine overall—after more than three years of full-scale war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly rejected surrendering internationally recognised territory or abandoning the constitutional goal of NATO membership, calling such terms a threat to the country’s survival. Kremlin insiders told Reuters the war would continue if Kyiv refuses, while Western governments maintain that any settlement must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and security.