Here is some more detail from the report from my colleagues Edward Helmore and Pjotr Sauer about Trump backing a plan to cede unoccupied Ukrainian territory to Russia to secure an end to the war, with Putin demanding Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for peace:

Although Luhansk is almost entirely under Russian control, Ukraine still holds key parts of Donetsk, including the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk and heavily fortified positions whose defence has cost tens of thousands of lives.

Putin told Trump that in exchange for Donetsk and Luhansk, he would halt further advances and freeze the frontline in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russian forces occupy significant areas.

Trump’s support for ceding Ukraine’s Donbas region (composed of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions), which is rich in mineral resources, including coal and iron ore, to Russia comes as he voiced support for moving straight to a peace deal and not via a ceasefire, which, Trump said in a social media post on Saturday, “often times do not hold up.”

US support for ceding the Donbas to Russia represents a breach with Ukraine and European allies that oppose such a deal.

As part of a deal, the US is ready to be part of security guarantees for Ukraine, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Saturday. Trump has threatened economic penalties on countries that buy Russian oil if Moscow refuses a deal and flew US bombers over the Russian leader as he arrived in Alaska.

But Ukrainian and European leaders fear that a straight-to-peace deal, skipping over a preliminary ceasefire, gives Moscow an upper hand in talks.

Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

While Washington prepares to welcome Volodymyr Zelenskyy for crunch talks with Donald Trump on Monday, European leaders who make up the so-called “coalition of the willing”, a loose partnership of western countries pledging support for Ukraine, are set to hold a conference call on Sunday to try to protect a peace deal that does not reward Russia for its aggression.

The virtual call is being co-chaired by the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz.

At the Alaska summit on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk as a condition for ending the war, but offered Trump a freeze along the remaining frontline, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks told the Guardian.

Trump reportedly backed the plan to cede unoccupied Ukrainian territory to Russia to secure an end to the war, telling European leaders that he believed a peace deal could be negotiated if Zelenskyy agreed to give up the Donbas region (which is composed of Donetsk and Luhansk).

European leaders have repeatedly said that Zelenskyy, who has been sidelined in much of the US-Russian diplomacy to date, must play a greater role in future talks as a lasting peace cannot be achieved without his input.

In a statement released on Saturday after the Alaska talks between Trump and Putin ended without any breakthrough, Starmer said in a statement posted to X:

President Trump’s efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.

While progress has been made, the next steps must be further talks involving President Zelenskyy. The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without him.

Stay with us as we will be keeping you up to date with the latest political and military developments throughout the day.