Yuri Kobzar19:07, 16.05.26

The Kremlin believes that they will be able to quickly capture Donbas, and then demand new territories.

Russia hopes to completely capture Donbas by the end of the year, so it does not plan to sign a peace agreement yet. And Vladimir Putin allegedly directly stated this to Donald Trump during their last phone conversation. This was reported by Ukrainian journalist Yulia Zabelina, who specializes in insider information from Washington.

Thus, citing her own sources in the wings of the American government, the journalist said that Trump’s special envoys Jared Kushner and Stephen Witkoff never made their visit to Kyiv because they cannot offer anything other than the transfer of Donbas to the Russians, and Kyiv categorically does not agree to this.

“As one interlocutor here in Washington told me, this negotiating duo has no other solution yet, except to propose to Ukraine to resolve something with Donbas. And Russia, of course, is putting pressure on it. They have no other ideas,” Zabelina said.

According to her, if Kushner and Witkoff do come to Kyiv, it will not be for the sake of negotiations, but simply to make a symbolic gesture in support of the Ukrainians.

Zabelina also claims that the American government has apparently not given up on the idea of ​​introducing new sanctions against Russia because Washington does not believe in Moscow’s willingness to end the war.

“Confirmation, in particular, was the recent telephone conversation between Putin and Trump, when Putin actually noted that “Don’t expect an agreement with the Ukrainians by the end of this year, Donald.” Russian officials, the Russian army, and intelligence are convincing Putin that they can capture Donbas by the end of the year and, they say, then the conversation with Ukraine will be completely different,” the journalist claims.

(C)UNIAN 2026