Trump Pressures Zelensky to Accept Putin's Peace Terms Amid Threats of Ukraine's Destruction

According to a Financial Times report published Sunday, US President Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their White House meeting on Friday to accept Russia's peace terms, warning that President Vladimir Putin had threatened Ukraine's destruction if terms weren't met.

The report states that Trump pushed Zelensky to surrender the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia during their discussions, repeatedly echoing talking points from his conversation with Putin just a day earlier, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

Despite initial pressure, Ukraine's delegation eventually convinced Trump to support freezing the conflict along current front lines instead. Following the meeting, Trump advocated for stopping the war at the present battle line, a position Zelensky described as significant.

When contacted, the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the Financial Times report.

Zelensky's White House visit on Friday was primarily aimed at securing additional weapons to continue Ukraine's defense efforts, but he encountered an American president seemingly more focused on facilitating a peace agreement.

During his Thursday call with Trump, Putin reportedly offered small portions of southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in exchange for much larger Ukrainian-controlled areas of Donbas. This represents a reduction from Putin's earlier 2024 demand for Ukraine to surrender all of Donbas plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia—approximately 20,000 square kilometers.

When asked whether Trump had pressured Zelensky to accept Russia's peace terms, the Ukrainian president's spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside business hours.

Trump and Putin have agreed to conduct a second summit regarding the Ukraine war within the next two weeks, tentatively scheduled in Budapest. This follows their August 15 meeting in Alaska, which failed to produce any breakthrough in resolving the conflict.