Trump-Ukraine latest updates: US tells Ukraine to give up Crimea ahead of White House meeting with European leaders

The future of Ukraine’s industrial heartland in the east of the country is uncertain, after Vladimir Putin reportedly demanded it be handed to Russia during his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday.

But losing Donetsk would give Russia control of almost all of the Donbas, the collective name for Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, which has been long coveted by Putin.

As a condition for peace, Vladimir Putin wants Kyiv to give up the Donbas, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the most intense fighting but that Russian forces have failed to capture completely.

In his Sunday night post, Donald Trump wrote that Volodymyr Zelensky should also accept Russia’s illegal 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

As part of a deal, Putin has said the United States and its European allies can provide Ukraine with a security guarantee resembling Nato’s collective defence pledge, according to a senior US official.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff called that a “game-changing” step though he offered few details on how it would work.

Ukraine has long pressed for some kind of guarantee that would prevent Russia from invading again.

Downing Street has suggested that Sir Keir Starmer would back a Ukraine peace deal without a ceasefire as a precondition.

Asked if the Prime Minister wants a ceasefire back on the table after Donald Trump appeared to drop his calls for one following his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Sir Keir’s official spokesman said: “We’ve always said we want to see a sustainable and just peace for Ukraine.

“One that ensures peace returns to Europe and the Ukrainian people can live without fear of attack again, and an agreement that delivers that as soon as possible, but ends the killing and translates that into a lasting peace supported by security guarantees, would be a significantly positive step.”

Pressed on whether that marked a change of position, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We want to see an end to the killing. If you can bring about an end to the killing and bring about a sustained peace in one go, then all the better.”

Ukraine’s borders are for the country to determine itself in negotiations, he added, stressing that “international borders must not be changed by force”.

Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said on Monday that Moscow is ready to hand over 31 civilians to Ukraine in return for the return of the same number of people to Russia, state news agency RIA reported.

Moskalkova said 31 civilians from the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian staged a major incursion last year, were still being held in Ukraine. S

he said she would meet shortly with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha has hit out at his Hungarian counterpart, who condemned Kyiv for attacking a Russian crude oil pipeline leading to Hungary.

“This latest strike against our energy security is outrageous and unacceptable!” foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said.

But Mr Sybiha has told Mr Szijjarto to send his complaints “to your friends in Moscow”.

“Peter, it is Russia, not Ukraine, who began this war and refuses to end it,” he said.

“Hungary has been told for years that Moscow is an unreliable partner. Despite this, Hungary has made every effort to maintain its reliance on Russia. Even after the full-scale war began. You can now send your complaints—and threats—to your friends in Moscow.”

Hungary, despite being an EU and Nato member state, holds friendly relations with Russia and has held a far softer stance to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine than its European allies.

Crimea has been a crucial sticking point in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine – but Donald Trump is aiming to resolve the issue as part of peace negotiations.

The US president has consistently said that Ukraine regaining control over Crimea, a peninsula jutting into the Black Sea, is off the cards in a potential agreement between Moscow and Kyiv to stop the war.

He reiterated that Crimea was off the table in a social media post on Monday ahead of a highly anticipated White House meeting with the Ukrainian president on 18 August.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday to discuss the outcome of last week’s Russia-US summit, the Kremlin said.

It said Ramaphosa “expressed support for the diplomatic efforts being undertaken to bring about a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis”.

The two leaders also discussed further development of a “comprehensive strategic Russian-South African partnership”, the Kremlin said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has hit out at Russia’s “cynical” and deadly strikes across Ukraine, which he says was deliberately carried out hours before his summit with Donald Trump in Washington.

At least seven people were killed including two children in Kharkiv due to Russia’s overnight attack, local authorities said. Three more were killed and 20 injured in Zaporizhzhia, with further casualties in Sumy and Odesa.

“This was a demonstrative and cynical Russian strike,” Mr Zelensky said on X. “They are aware that a meeting is taking place today in Washington that will address the end of the war.”

He added: “Putin will commit demonstrative killings to maintain pressure on Ukraine and Europe, as well as to humiliate diplomatic efforts.

“That is precisely why we are seeking assistance to put an end to the killings. That is why reliable security guarantees are required.”

European leaders, scheduled to participate in Ukraine talks in Washington on Monday, will seek to discuss the role the US can play in security guarantees to protect Ukraine after any agreement with Russia, a German government spokesperson said.

“We have also seen signals from the US that there may have been concessions or promises from the Americans (…) Of course, this must first be concretised and verified in the talks today,” the spokesperson said in a regular government press conference.

European leaders, including German chancellor Friedrich Merz, will join Volodymyr Zelensky to meet Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, seeking to shore up the Ukrainian president’s position as Trump presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal with Russia.