Kremlin says Ukraine should withdraw troops from Donbas, Putin-Trump call expected soon

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from Donbas if it wanted peace, and that if Kyiv did not strike a deal then it would lose yet more territory.

Putin and Trump spoke on Sunday ahead of Trump’s meeting in Miami with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said another call was planned very soon.

Peskov refused to comment on the idea of a free economic zone in Donbas or on the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying that the Kremlin felt it was inappropriate.

When asked about Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov’s remarks about the decision that Kyiv needed to take on Donbas, Peskov said that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from the parts they still controlled.

“We are talking about the withdrawal of the regime’s armed forces from the Donbas,” Peskov said. When asked it that applied to the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions too, he refused to discuss details.