Russia After Trump's demand: Moscow does not want a freeze on the front line
Contrary to US President Donald Trump's suggestion, Russia does not want to stop fighting on the current front line in the Ukraine war. "If you stop just like that, it means forgetting the causes of this conflict," said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
21.10.2025, 16:46
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It also means "that a huge part of Ukraine will remain under the leadership of a Nazi regime", the minister said. Russian propaganda repeatedly claims that there is a right-wing government in Ukraine. The overthrow of the government in Kiev is a declared war aim of Moscow.
The idea of an immediate ceasefire is also contrary to the agreements reached at the Russian-American summit in Alaska, said Lavrov. Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin met there in August in the struggle for a peace solution to the war in Ukraine - but without any tangible results.
Moscow has so far stuck to its maximum demands in its war of aggression, which has been going on for more than three and a half years. According to these demands, Ukraine should renounce its NATO membership and cede the Crimean peninsula as well as the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia in their entirety. Putin repeatedly emphasizes that a comprehensive peace agreement should be negotiated this time - parallel to the ongoing fighting.
Trump: Troops should stay where they are
US President Trump recently said that Russia and Ukraine should each remain where their troops are currently located and that anything else would be "very difficult to negotiate". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed, but added: "Both sides must stop, but that is a question for Putin, because we did not start the war."
In a statement, Germany, France, the UK, Ukraine and other countries supported the call to take the current frontline as a starting point for negotiations.
