US President Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One that Russia and Ukraine should “stop where they are right now,” and denied that he had discussed handing over all of Donbas to Russia. He said this while answering questions from reporters.
Trump also added that “let everything be divided the way it is… they can agree later,” and uttered a controversial figure: “78% of the territory is already occupied by Russia.”
The day before, there was talk of a tense closed-door meeting between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday: sources reported that Trump insisted on an early ceasefire along the current lines of contact, which the Ukrainian side perceived as a dangerous scenario for Kyiv.
Some media outlets reported his words more harshly — they said that Donbas would have to be “cut up” and a significant part left under Russian control — but in a conversation with reporters on board, Trump denied that he was proposing to “give away all of Donbas.”
Trump's statement about "78% of the territory" does not correspond to the estimates of leading sources. Reuters wrote the day before that Russia controls about 19% of the territory of Ukraine (including the occupation since 2014). In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Russian control is indeed significant, but we are talking about different proportions: previously it was estimated at about 75% of Donetsk and almost all of Luhansk regions.
The proposal to “freeze” the front at current positions would de facto legitimize the captured territories for future negotiations — a scenario that Kyiv publicly rejects, emphasizing that it will not cede territory. Earlier in September, Trump, on the contrary, made more favorable statements to Ukraine that Kyiv “can return all the land” — so the current messages look like a rhetorical shift.
