Trump's ceasefire pivot will cause dismay in Kyiv and Europe
Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform and a former British diplomat, said Moscow's territorial demand was a non-starter.
"If Trump thinks that Zelensky is going to agree to give up the fortress cities of the Donetsk oblast, just to get Putin to stop making war on him, he's out of his mind," he said.
"It shows how little he still understands about the situation and the geography of Ukraine."