United States President Donald Trump has urged Russia and Ukraine to halt fighting along their current front lines, proposing a freeze that would leave Moscow in control of large swaths of Ukrainian territory.

Speaking to reporters late on Sunday, Trump said both sides should “stop right now at the battle lines, go home, stop killing people and be done,” adding that any territorial “details” could be addressed in future negotiations. The existing front line runs through the eastern Donbas industrial region.

Pressed on the fate of Donbas, where much of the war has raged, Trump said: “Let it be cut the way it is. It’s cut up right now — I think 78 percent of the land is already taken by Russia. You leave it the way it is right now. They can negotiate something later on down the line.” He acknowledged that reaching a final settlement would be difficult.

Kyiv has repeatedly insisted it intends to reclaim all territory occupied by Russia, including the Crimean Peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine. Trump himself said last month that Ukraine could prevail militarily and retake those areas, even as he has pledged to end the war swiftly.

Trump is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks. He hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week, later saying there was a chance to conclude the conflict quickly “if flexibility is shown.”

Zelenskyy told NBC News that “Putin is something similar but more strong than Hamas,” and suggested the Trump-brokered ceasefire in Gaza could provide “momentum” to stop the war in Ukraine. 

He also renewed Ukraine’s request for U.S. long-range Tomahawk missiles; Zelenskyy said Trump neither approved nor rejected the appeal, while the president has recently argued Washington must preserve its own Tomahawk stockpiles for national security.

Under former President Joe Biden, the United States provided tens of billions of dollars in military, budgetary and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Trump has reduced U.S. assistance while urging European allies to arm Kyiv by purchasing American weapons.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, citing NATO’s eastward expansion into parts of the former Soviet Union. Ukrainian forces repelled Russia’s initial push to seize Kyiv, but the war has since settled into a grinding conflict concentrated in the east.

Source: AL Jazeera 

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