Zelensky: Trump Pressuring Him To Give Up On Donbas And End War Soon

With the Ukraine war now marching into its fifth year, and with the next weather-driven “fighting season” underway, a frustrated Ukrainian President Volydymyr Zelensky says the Trump administration is pressuring him to give up the Donbas region in exchange for US security guarantees. He also claims that Russia is offering to stop providing intelligence to Iran if the United States stops giving intel to Ukraine. 

Last week, we reported that trilateral talks about the Ukraine war had been suspended, thanks to the United States now having to focus on executing Trump’s war on Iran with Israel. However, in an interview with Reuters, Zelensky said that Trump is now pressuring Ukraine to cave on its biggest demand just to wipe the war off his to-do list. In his 2024 campaign, Trump told voters that he’d have the war settled “before I even arrive at the Oval Office.” 

“The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy to put more pressure on the Ukrainian side,” he told Reuters. The principal thrust of that pressure: Ukraine giving up on its demand that the eastern Donbas region be returned to Ukraine, in exchange for US security guarantees for what’s left of the Ukraine after the shooting stops. Comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the great majority of the Donbas is already under Russian military control. 

“The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” Zelensky said, adding that such a move would leave Ukraine and Europe vulnerable to Russian aggression, because ceding Donbas would also cede key defensive terrain.   

Zelensky also bemoaned what he says is an insufficient supply of interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems. “We were not stopped from deliveries. I’m very grateful to President Trump, and to his team, but this supply of Patriot missiles is not as large as we need.” That gripe comes as both US and Israeli interceptor missile supplies are being rapidly diminished in responding to wave after wave of Iranian attacks — weeks after White House boasts that Tehran’s ballistic missile capability had been “functionally destroyed.” Meanwhile, Ukraine has apparently come up with an alternative air defense tactic straight out of a video game: 

#Ukraine: Wild footage shows a Ukrainian soldier flying aboard a Yak-52 aircraft, shooting down an incoming Russian Shahed drone with his rifle.

The footage was taken last month, and the location is described as “somewhere in the south,” possibly in Kherson or Zaporizhzhia. pic.twitter.com/uliweMjomj

— POPULAR FRONT (@PopularFront_) March 25, 2026

Zelensky also claimed that his military intelligence had acquired “irrefutable” evidence that Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran, as the country continues to defend itself in the war launched by Israel and the United States on Feb. 28. What’s more, he claimed Putin is using that as a bargaining chip to persuade Trump to acknowledge Russian sovereignty over Donbas: 

“I have reports from our intelligence services showing that Russia is doing this and saying: ‘I will not pass on intelligence to Iran if America stops passing intelligence to Ukraine.’ Isn’t that blackmail? Absolutely.” 

This latest stirring of the pot by Zelensky comes on the heels of Russia launching the largest 24-hour aerial attack since the Feb 2022 Russian invasion. Counting both drones and cruise missiles, 979 warheads poured into Ukrainian airspace, with about half of them coming in a very rare broad-daylight blitz on Tuesday.  

While we can’t verify its authenticity, this video seemingly shows that Trump isn’t the only one who’s unenthusiastic about Zelensky’s pipe dream of retaking the Donbas: 

Civilians resist to the military dictatorship in Ukraine.

A man gave a draft officer a ride on the hood of his car, showing him that forcing people to war is wrong.

Zelenskyy made a promotional video for GTA 6 about Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/TseVnR4XPo

— Diana Panchenko (@Panchenko_X) March 25, 2026