A tough confrontation, or rather a"furious argument," culminating in a sort of ultimatum from US President Donald Trump directed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: either you cede Donbass or you will be destroyed. This is what the most authoritative newspapers, from the Washington Post to the Financial Times, are reporting behind the scenes of Friday's White House meeting. And Trump's message to the Ukrainian president is essentially a translation of Vladimir Putin's demands, which the White House chief had spoken to the day before in a long phone call. This is a reconstruction that some in the EU are greeting with a hint of skepticism, if not bitterness. At the forefront is Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, one of the most stern leaders against a negotiation that does not fully guarantee Kiev: “None of us should pressure Zelensky when it comes to territorial concessions,” Tusk writes on X. “We should all pressure Russia to cease its aggression. Appeasement has never been the path to a just and lasting peace.”

The Russian president, on the phone with The Donald, essentially reiterated that the condition for ending hostilities in Ukraine is full control of Donetsk, a strategic area in the East that has been disputed since 2014. The Kremlin leader's insistence on this point, according to the same sources as the Washington Post, indicates that Moscow does not intend to back down from the demands that have so far blocked all negotiations, despite Trump's optimism about the possibility of an agreement. Since the beginning of the conflict, Moscow has been trying (so far with little success) to consolidate control of Donetsk, where Ukrainian forces have been entrenched for years in a region considered a bulwark against Russian advances toward the capital.

And for this very reason, the Donetsk region and Donbass more generally were key topics in the White House meeting between Trump and Ukrainian leader Zelensky. According to what was revealed by the Financial Times, the US president urged the Ukrainian leader to accept the conditions imposed by Russia, warning that Putin had declared he would"destroy" Ukraine if he did not accept. In particular, the tycoon insisted that Zelensky hand over the entire Donbass to Putin. The meeting reportedly escalated several times into a"furious argument," with maps of the front line in Ukraine being thrown away by Trump.

Zelensky, after Friday's meeting with Trump, had launched an appeal to allies."Ukraine will never give terrorists any reward for their crimes, and we count on our partners to maintain this position," he wrote on X. Zelensky, who did not receive the Tomahawk missiles, called for"decisive steps from the US, Europe, the G20 and the G7," stressing that "Putin cannot be stopped with words." "We agreed to an unconditional ceasefire and repeatedly offered ways to stop the attacks, but Russia continues to obstruct the process, manipulating and intensifying bombing along the front line." In the last week alone, according to the Ukrainian president, Moscow has used"over 3,200 attack drones, 1,370 guided bombs , and approximately 50 missiles" against the country. Zelensky also expressed his hope that Europe would become"completely independent of Russian energy" given that the US "is ready to provide all the gas and oil needed to replace Russian supplies" and that "our region has the necessary infrastructure and potential to contribute much more significantly to Europe's energy independence."

Zelensky also told Trump that he was "ready" to travel to Budapest, where the US president announced he would meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In an interview with NBC, Zelensky called Putin a"terrorist" but reiterated his willingness to meet the Russian leader in person."If we really want a just and lasting peace, we need both sides in this tragedy," he said."How can agreements be reached without us talking to each other?"

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the guns are not silent. Among the various news reports on Sunday was the wounding of 10 people in a drone attack on the community of Shakhtarska in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Homes and infrastructure were also hit in the communities of Mezhyvska and Mykolaivska. Russian troops also shelled the Nikopol region with artillery and drones. On the other hand, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, Moscow's air defense systems shot down 45 Ukrainian drones overnight over several regions of the Federation, including Samara, Saratov, Rostov, Voronezh, and Crimea. The Ukrainian General Staff said that another drone strike hit the Russian oil refinery in Novokuibyshevsk, in the Samara region near Orenburg, causing a fire and damaging its main refining units. The plant, operated by the Russian oil company Rosneft, has an annual capacity of 4.9 million tons and produces over 20 types of petroleum products.