The United States is making its security guarantees for a peace deal contingent upon Ukraine agreeing to give up the entire Donbas region — territory Russia has not conquered militarily in over a decade of fighting — according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukrainian leaders view the prospect of security guarantees from the U.S. as an essential part of any agreement to end the war, meant to ensure Russia cannot restart the conflict at a time of its choosing in the future.
“The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” Zelensky told Reuters in an interview. “President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy of putting more pressure on the Ukrainian side.”
While Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, there has been fighting in the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas since 2014. After failing to capture Kyiv at the outset of the full-scale war, Russia’s military refocused its frontline troops to seize the Donbas but has not yet taken the entire territory, though it holds most of it.
Russian forces have spent years and lost likely hundreds of thousands of lives to make incremental gains in the region.
Russian leaders have repeatedly demanded, among other conditions, that Ukraine give up the territory in the Donbas that Russian forces currently occupy, and Russia wants Ukraine to give up the remaining territory that Russian troops have not yet conquered.
The Trump administration has sought a diplomatic end to the war since coming to office in early 2025, but those repeated rounds of talks have yet to yield results. Recent rounds of talks were postponed due to the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, which began Feb. 28, but have since taken place.
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have led the U.S. effort to end the war in Ukraine and are now also a part of the U.S. negotiating team working to find a diplomatic resolution to the war in Iran.
“The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump,” Zelensky added.
JOINT UKRAINE-US FUND APPROVES FIRST INVESTMENT
Zelensky has offered to provide assistance to the U.S., Israel, and other Gulf countries that have now come under attack from Iranian drones, which Ukraine has tactical and operational experience in combating because Iran helped Russia’s drone program.
The Pentagon is debating whether to divert weapons intended for Ukraine to the Middle East as the war eats into U.S. stockpiles of critical munitions, according to the Washington Post.
