Russia’s war in Ukraine is well into its fourth year, despite US President Donald Trump’s promise to end the conflict within 24 hours of his return to office in January.
He’s tempered expectations of a breakthrough at his Aug. 15 meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who’s stepping onto American soil for the first time in almost a decade, in a US state that once belonged to Russia. Trump has framed the summit in Anchorage as a precursor to a second, more important gathering that could involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
If Trump is to secure an eventual peace deal, he’ll have to negotiate an agreement on the future of Ukraine’s territory. Putin is demanding Ukraine cede land, while Zelenskiy and his European allies remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.
What Ukrainian territory does Russia control?
As of mid-August, Russia occupied nearly a fifth of Ukraine, and its offensive stretched across a frontline of more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
Putin Demands That Ukraine Cede Five Regions
Russia seeks to consolidate territorial gains ahead of Alaska talks with Trump
Putin has worked for years to try to revise Ukraine’s borders. He illegally annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014. Parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in the east of Ukraine — which together form the Donbas region — were under the control of pro-Russian proxies from that year, as the Kremlin incited a separatist insurgency shortly after the operation to seize Crimea.
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