US tells Ukraine it must withdraw from Donetsk region for peace deal, says person familiar with talks

By Andreas Rinke and Tom Balmforth

BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. peace negotiators have told Ukraine during peace talks in Berlin that it must agree to withdraw its forces from the eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal to end the nearly four-year-old war, an official familiar with the matter said.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity as Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators concluded a second day of talks in the German capital, said Kyiv had requested further discussions. A second person familiar with the talks said there were still major gaps on the territorial issue.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been holding talks in Berlin with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as European leaders.

Kyiv, under heavy pressure from Trump to make concessions to Russia to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two, maintained an upbeat tone in its public comments.

"Over the past two days, Ukrainian-U.S. negotiations have been constructive and productive, with real progress achieved," Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, wrote on X after Monday's talks.

"The American team led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are working extremely constructively to help Ukraine find a way to a peace agreement that lasts."

TERRITORY, NATO MEMBERSHIP AMONG TOP ISSUES IN TALKS

Ukraine said on Sunday it was willing to drop its ambition to join the NATO alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees. But it was not immediately clear how far talks had progressed on that or other vital issues such as the future of Ukrainian territory, and how much the talks in Berlin could persuade Russia to agree to a ceasefire.

Zelenskiy said in a post on X after Monday's talks that "there is a great deal of work under way on the diplomatic track right now" but did not divulge details.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia's demand that Ukraine not join NATO was a fundamental question in talks on a possible peace settlement. He said Russia expected an update from the U.S. after the negotiations in Berlin.

Russia claims to have annexed Ukraine's eastern Donbas region comprising Donetsk and Luhansk as well as three other regions including Crimea, something Kyiv and its European allies say is unacceptable. Russian forces do not fully control all the territory that Moscow claims, including about 20% of Donetsk.

Zelenskiy is treading a difficult line between appearing flexible and reasonable to the Trump administration while also not making concessions that the Ukrainian people would reject.

Underscoring the challenge he faces, a poll published on Monday showed three-quarters of Ukrainians reject major concessions in any peace deal.

The poll, by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, found that 72% of Ukrainians were prepared for a deal that froze the current front line and contained some compromises.

However, 75% believed a Russia-friendly plan that included Ukraine ceding more territory or capping the size of its army without receiving clear security guarantees was "completely unacceptable".

"If security guarantees are not unambiguous and binding... Ukrainians will not trust them, and this will affect the general readiness to approve the corresponding peace plan," wrote KIIS executive director Anton Hrushetskyi.

EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY FACES CRUCIAL WEEK

Monday's talks come at the start of a pivotal week for Europe, with an EU summit on Thursday set to decide whether it can underwrite a massive loan to Ukraine with frozen Russian central bank assets.

Europe has come under fire from Washington over its policies on migration, security and regulating big tech. The European Union and national governments have struggled to find a unified response to the U.S. criticism.

EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to agree new sanctions targeting the Russian shadow fleet of oil tankers.

"The most important thing for us is now to ensure we can finance Ukraine," said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

"We must take a decision to ensure Ukraine is in a position to continue its freedom fight and to show the rest of the world that Europe is a strong player. Otherwise we will give in to the picture painted by the American president, that Europe is weak."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of France, Britain, Italy and Poland are among those expected to join the discussions in the German capital on Monday evening.