“LAUGHING” Vladimir Putin is laying a trap for the West by demanding to keep hold of Ukrainian land, the EU’s top diplomat has warned.
Putin also wants to starve Ukraine of Western boots on the ground, ban the country from ever joining NATO and cap the size of its army, Kremlin sources revealed.
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Kaja Kallas, Vice-President of the European Commission, also told the BBC that Putin got “everything he wanted” from the red-carpet Alaska summit without having to make “one single concession”.
In the Alaska summit, Putin demanded Ukraine hands over the entire eastern Donbas region – dubbed the “fortress belt” – in exchange for peace.
Russia has already overrun most of its two areas, Donetsk and Luhansk, but Ukraine is bravely clinging onto one well-fortified corner.
Zelensky has made it crystal clear that he is not willing to hand land to Russia as part of any peace deal.
Kallas said that these demands are a “trap that Putin wants us to walk into”.
Trump has backed the need for “swapping of territories” in peace negotiations – raising fears he could be strolling straight into this trap.
Putin’s reel of demands has did not shift after the Alaska summit, according to new reports citing multiple sources familiar with Kremlin thinking.
He is refusing to accept any Western boots on the ground to prop up a peace deal – even though that is one of the fundamental expectations of the security guarantees being drafted between the US and Europe.
Putin also insists that Ukraine can never be allowed to join Nato, something Donald Trump has reluctantly accepted, and that the size of its armed forces should be limited.
Kallas said that Putin got “everything he wanted” and more out of the Alaska summit, which could mean he is less compelled to negotiate peace.
The diplomat said: “[Putin] got such a welcoming and he wanted sanctions not to be put in place, which he also achieved.
“Putin is just laughing, not stopping the killing but increasing the killing.
“We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession.”
Putin feels he has the upperhand on the battlefield doesn’t want to end the war, Kallas warned, so is quite happy to continue stringing along the West and hoovering up attention at high-profile summits.
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The ball is in his court to set up a head-to-head meeting with Zelensky.
All parties involved in the negotiations are willing that to happen as soon as possible – but the Kremlin is again dragging its feet.
Putin’s top goon Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin is ready for an in-person meeting – but only after working through a list of vague “issues”.
The Foreign Minister claimed: “Our president has repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Mr Zelensky.”
But he insisted the meeting would only happen “with the understanding that all issues that require consideration at the highest level will be well worked out”.
‘Fortress belt’ in Putin’s sights
Ukraine’s Donbas region has become a key impasse in the peace negotiations.
It would be a valuable prize for Putin with murderous potential – and one he has sought for over a decade.
At last week’s Alaska summit, Putin declared he would freeze the frontline if Ukraine handed over the last remaining enclave of the Donbas.
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But Kyiv has consistently rejected the idea of releasing any territory it currently holds – setting up a major sticking point in the negotiations.
But why is Putin so obsessed by this particular patch?
The Donbas is Ukraine’s industrial powerhouse and holds rich reserves of coal and metal underground.
By taking it all Russia would totally suffocate the vital supply of those fossil fuels to Ukraine.
The Donbas is also a crucial strategic location in the conflict.
It is a gateway guarding the central heartland of Ukraine – built around Ukraine “fortress belt”.
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This refers to a run of fiercely-defenced towns and cities which Russia has so far failed to undo.
The valley around the Kazenyi Torets river, which runs through the unconquered region, has been fortified into a defensive stronghold.
Over more than a decade, defensive lines have been embedded into the terrain and the slopes measured up for artillery ranges.
Ukraine’s army knows every inch of the land – hence the Russians have been unable to penetrate it.
With the Donbas out of the way, Putin’s ranks would find it much easier to storm through and take large swathes of central Ukraine in any future attacks.
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