Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In an interview published on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia will seize full control of Ukraine’s Donbas region by force if Ukrainian forces do not withdraw, a stance that Kyiv has completely rejected.
“Either we liberate these territories by force of arms, or Ukrainian troops leave these territories,”
Putin told India Today ahead of a visit to New Delhi, according to a clip shown on Russian state television.
Russian troops entered Ukraine in February 2022, following eight years of conflict between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces in Donbas, comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukraine states it does not wish to give Russia its own territory that Moscow has been unable to claim on the battlefield. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also emphasized that Moscow should not be rewarded for initiating the war.
How much Ukrainian land does Russia currently occupy?
Russia currently holds control over 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. This includes all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, around 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and fragments of Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. About 5,000 square km of Donetsk remains under Ukrainian control.
Russia in 2022 declared that the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and
Zaporizhzhia was now part of Russia after referenda that the West and Kyiv dismissed as a sham. Most countries recognise the regions – and Crimea – as part of Ukraine.
How significant were Putin’s talks with Witkoff and Kushner?
Russia has repeatedly stated in discussions with the United States about a potential peace agreement to end the war that it wants control of the entire Donbas region. Furthermore, Russia expects the United States to unofficially acknowledge Moscow’s authority over the territory.
Putin met with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Tuesday. He stated that Russia had accepted certain U.S. proposals on Ukraine and emphasized that discussions should proceed.
Russia’s RIA state news agency reported that Putin described his meeting with Witkoff and Kushner as “very useful,” noting it was built on proposals he and President Trump discussed in Alaska in August.
What does the us peace plan mean for Donbas sovereignty?
The US peace proposal for Ukraine also includes ceding control of the entire Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts) to Russia, in exchange for US security guarantees against future aggression. This 28-point plan, initially drafted with Russian input and mediated partly by Qatar and Turkey, designates Donbas as a demilitarised zone under Russian de facto authority, with the US and allies recognising it as Russian territory.
