Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump and U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Steve Witkoff that he intends to occupy Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in a few months, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview published Tuesday.
“That is, he [Putin] says that in three to four months, and this is what he told the Americans, the White House, and President Trump’s representative Witkoff, he said that he would take Donbas in two to three months, maximum four months,” Ukraine’s president told ABC News.
Russia first invaded Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in 2014, before launching a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022.
“It’s the most fortified part with the most capable forces,” Zelenskyy said, explaining why conceding the region is a non-negotiable for Ukraine. “It’s like a fortress … and if we withdraw our troops and he will have all the Donbas, who can guarantee that he won’t move 90 kilometers further on Kharkiv, he always wanted Kharkiv,” he said.
On Tuesday, those concerns were underscored by a Russian strike on civilians in the Donetsk region. A glide bomb hit the village of Yarova, less than 10 kilometers from the front line, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly two dozen others as they waited to collect their pensions, Zelenskyy and local officials said.
Calling the attack “frankly brutal,” Zelenskyy urged the international community to increase pressure on Russia.
“The world must not remain inactive. A response from the United States is needed. A response from Europe is needed. A response from the G20 is needed. Strong action is needed so that Russia stops bringing death,” he said.
Zelenskyy’s remarks on Donbas follow reports that Putin had presented to Trump a peace plan during the U.S.-Russia bilateral meeting in Alaska on Aug. 15, under which Ukraine would cede unoccupied territory in exchange for Moscow’s written pledge not to invade again.
Reacting to the presidential summit, Zelenskyy said “it was a pity” Ukraine had not been invited and that “Trump gave Putin what he wanted.”
“He wanted very much to meet with President Trump, with the president of the United States, and I think that Putin got it, and it’s a pity,” Zelenskyy said. “Putin does not want to meet with me, but he wants to meet with the president of the United States to show everybody images and video that he is there,” he added.
Following a high-level meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Aug. 18, Trump announced he was arranging a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin.
The Kremlin, however, has shown no willingness to commit to an in-person meeting between the two leaders. On Sept. 3, Putin said he would meet Zelenskyy face-to-face — but only if it takes place in Moscow.
“I can’t go to Moscow when my country is under missiles, under attack each day. It’s understandable and he understands it,” Zelenskyy said. “He is doing it to postpone the meeting … He plays games and he is playing games with the United States.”
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