Trump Demands Action on Russia-Ukraine War: Pushes for Territorial Concessions Despite Ukrainian Resistance

The White House official stated that US President Donald Trump is "extremely frustrated" with both Russia and Ukraine regarding the ongoing conflict.

US President Donald Trump expressed being "extremely frustrated" with both Russia and Ukraine, according to his spokeswoman's Thursday statement, as Kyiv reported that Washington continues pressing for major territorial concessions as part of its plan to end the nearly four-year war.

"The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war," Karoline Leavitt informed reporters. "He doesn't want any more talk. He wants action. He wants this war to come to an end."

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made comments suggesting little had changed in Washington's fundamental position on how the conflict should conclude since sending a 28-point plan to Kyiv and Moscow last month that significantly favored Russia.

Zelensky indicated that Washington was still pushing Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia as part of an agreement to end the war that began with Moscow's February 2022 invasion.

Washington expects only Ukraine, not Russia, to withdraw troops from portions of the eastern Donetsk region, where a demilitarized "free economic zone" would serve as a buffer between the armies, Zelensky told reporters, including AFP.

Under the latest US proposal, Moscow would maintain its positions in the country's south but withdraw some troops from Ukrainian regions in the north that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not claimed to have annexed.

Ukraine has been modifying the original US proposal and this week submitted a 20-point counter-proposal to Washington, with complete details remaining unpublished.

"We have two key points of disagreement: the territories of Donetsk and everything related to them, and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (in the south). These are the two topics we continue to discuss," Zelensky informed reporters at a briefing.

"They see Ukrainian forces leaving the territory of Donetsk region, and the supposed compromise is that Russian forces do not enter this territory... which they already call a 'free economic zone'," Zelensky said regarding the US plan.

Zelensky has consistently maintained he has no "constitutional" or "moral" right to cede Ukrainian land and stated Thursday that Ukrainians should have the final decision.

"Whether through elections or a referendum, there must be a position from the people of Ukraine," he said.

Zelensky also rejected the concept of a unilateral Ukrainian withdrawal in the Donetsk region.

"Why doesn't the other side of the war pull back the same distance in the other direction?" he questioned, adding there were "a great many questions" still unresolved.

Under the US plan, Russia would relinquish territory captured in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions—three areas Moscow has not formally claimed.

In 2022, Russia claimed to formally annex the Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, despite not fully controlling them.

Ukraine's forces still hold approximately one fifth of the Donetsk region, according to AFP's analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Much of eastern and southern Ukraine has been devastated by fighting.

Tens of thousands have perished and millions have been forced to abandon their homes.

Russia, maintaining numerical advantages in manpower and weaponry, continues advancing on the battlefield.

Russia claimed Thursday to have captured Siversk in the Donetsk region, where its army is advancing at its fastest rate in a year, according to AFP's analysis. Ukraine's eastern command denied this claim.

After conducting a video conference to discuss the latest proposals, Ukraine's European allies stated that "this is a pivotal moment for Ukraine, its people, and for the security we all share across the Euro-Atlantic region," according to the British prime minister's office.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said late Thursday that "the coming week will be decisive" in seeking a "just and sustainable peace for Ukraine".

"Sustainable means that any peace agreement must not contain the seeds of future conflict and destabilise the broader European security architecture," she posted on X.

Trump has largely excluded Europe from the process, preferring direct dealings with Moscow and Kyiv through shuttle diplomacy led by his envoy Steve Witkoff and, more recently, his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Zelensky indicated that while there was no strict deadline to finalize an agreement, Washington wanted to establish the framework of a deal by Christmas.

In Kyiv, a double bomb explosion on Thursday killed one serviceman and wounded four others, in what city prosecutors described as a suspected terrorist act.