WASHINGTON — Donald Trump on Saturday dropped his push for a ceasefire in Ukraine in favour of pursuing a full peace accord -- a major shift announced hours after his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin yielded no clear breakthrough.

 

Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump -- who had threatened "severe consequences" on Russia -- and European leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, who will now visit Washington on Monday.

 

The shift away from ceasefire would seem to favour Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal -- a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticized as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances.

 

Trump spoke with Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back to Washington, saying afterward that "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war."

 

Ceasefire agreements "often times do not hold up," Trump added on his Truth Social platform.

 

In the call, Trump expressed support for a proposal by Putin to take full control of two largely Russian-held Ukrainian regions in exchange for freezing the frontline in two others, an official briefed on the talks told AFP.

 

Putin "de facto demands that Ukraine leave Donbas," an area consisting of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, the source said.

 

In exchange, Russian forces would halt their offensive in the Black Sea port region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, whose main cities are still under Ukrainian control.

 

Several months into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia in September 2022 claimed to have annexed all four Ukrainian regions even though its troops still do not fully control any of them.

 

"The Ukrainian president refused to leave Donbas," the source said.

 

Trump notably also said the United States was prepared to provide Ukraine security guarantees, an assurance German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed as "significant progress."

 

But there was a scathing assessment of the summit outcome from the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accused Putin of seeking to "drag out negotiations" with no commitment to end the bloodshed.

 

"The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon," Kallas said.

 

The main diplomatic focus now switches to Zelensky's talks at the White House on Monday.

 

An EU source told AFP that a number of European leaders had also been invited to attend.

 

The Ukrainian president's last Oval Office visit in February ended in an extraordinary shouting match, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berating Zelensky for not showing enough gratitude for US aid.

 

Zelensky said Saturday after a "substantive" conversation with Trump about the Alaska summit that he looked forward to his Washington visit and discussing "all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war."

 

In an interview with broadcaster Fox News after his sit-down with Putin, Trump had suggested that the onus was now on Zelensky to secure a peace deal as they work towards an eventual trilateral summit with Putin.

 

"It's really up to President Zelensky to get it done," Trump said. "And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it's up to President Zelensky."

 

Donald Trump and Putin agreed to "robust security guarantees" for Ukraine during their high-stakes summit in Alaska, a top White House envoy said Sunday, adding that he was hopeful for a "productive meeting" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders the next day.

 

Speaking on CNN, Steve Witkoff added that Russia had agreed to unspecified concessions on five Ukrainian regions central to the fighting, particularly the eastern Donetsk province.

 

"We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing," Witkoff said.

 

He added: "The Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions. There is an important discussion with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there. And that discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday."

 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC Sunday that a ceasefire "is not off the table," but "what we ultimately are aiming for is an end to this war."

 

Zelensky on Sunday rejected the idea of Russia offering his country security guarantees, after US and EU officials promoted the possibility.

 

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday hailed the proposal as an offer of NATO-style security guarantees from the United States.

 

"We welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to (NATO) Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine, and the coalition of the willing, including the European Union, is ready to do its share," von der Leyen said.

 

Zelensky also welcomed the idea of US security guarantees -- but was less positive about Russia's intentions.

 

"What President Trump said about security guarantees is much more important to me than Putin's thoughts, because Putin will not give any security guarantees," he told a press conference in Brussels alongside von der Leyen.

 

"Security means a strong army, which only Ukraine can provide. I believe that only Europe can finance this army."

 

Von der Leyen and Zelensky also shared their thoughts on a possible meeting between Trump, Putin and the Ukrainian leader.

 

"So far, Russia gives no sign that the trilateral will happen and if Russia refuses, then new sanctions must follow," Zelensky said.

 

Von der Leyen had said she wanted to see the three-way meeting happen "as soon as possible".