By Alperen Aktas
ISTANBUL (AA) – US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Ukraine should “stop at the battle lines” and end its war with Russia, suggesting that Kyiv accept the current territorial situation as the basis for future negotiations.
Speaking to reporters as he returned to Washington, Trump said he had a “cordial” meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday and denied reports that he had urged Kyiv to cede the entire Donbas region to Moscow.
“No, we never discussed it,” he said. “What they should do is just stop at the lines where they are — the battle lines.”
He added that in the Donbas region, “78% of the land is already taken by Russia,” saying Ukraine could negotiate “something later on down the line” but that the immediate cessation of fighting was the priority.
The Donbas region, encompassing Donetsk and Luhansk, has been the focal point of the conflict since 2014, when Russian-backed separatists declared breakaway republics following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
Russian forces later expanded control over much of the area after launching a "special operation" in February 2022.