Istanbul: Russia is demanding Ukraine cede all of its eastern Donbas region, but would be willing to freeze the conflict in the south of the country along current front lines, Turkiye\u2019s top diplomat has said.<\/p>\n
Russia occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine\u2019s territory, and has claimed to have annexed five of the country\u2019s regions \u2014 Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, along with Crimea, which it seized in 2014.<\/p>\n
At peace talks in Istanbul this year, Russia\u2019s negotiators demanded Ukraine pull out of those regions entirely as a precondition to ending the conflict that started with Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion.<\/p>\n
But following a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Moscow has scaled back its demands, Turkiye\u2019s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow they have given up on that demand and are staying on the contact lines, except for one region … There is currently a preliminary (agreement) regarding the return of 25-30 percent of Donetsk and maintaining the contact line in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson,\u201d Fidan said in an interview with TGRT Haber on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It was not clear who that agreement was between. Ukraine has repeatedly rejected territorial concessions, though President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said Kyiv would need to secure the return of land through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
Russia has had total control of Crimea since 2014 and already occupies practically the entire Lugansk region.<\/p>\n
Though Moscow controls most of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Ukraine holds the regional capitals there.<\/p>\n
Asked about Fidan\u2019s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was \u201cdeliberately not disclosing all the details of the conversation between the two presidents in Alaska\u201d as doing so would hinder the peace process.<\/p>\n
The claimed shift in Russia\u2019s position had previously been reported based on briefings by anonymous officials.<\/p>\n
Turkiye has hosted three rounds of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul in recent months that have failed to break the deadlock.<\/p>\n
Though a deadly strike on Kyiv that killed at least 23 people on Thursday further set back progress toward peace, Fidan hailed some diplomatic movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact they have stated this themselves and have agreed to have it guaranteed by a security mechanism in principle … actually provides a truly remarkable framework in this war,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
However, he acknowledged it would be difficult for Ukraine to give up its territory, including heavily fortified terrain that could leave Ukraine vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce that territory is given up, the remaining area becomes a bit difficult to protect strategically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when you factor in security mechanisms and guarantees, you have to look at how the issue will unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Istanbul: Russia is demanding Ukraine cede all of its eastern Donbas region, but would be willing to freeze the conflict in the south of the country along current front lines, Turkiye\u2019s top diplomat has said. Russia occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine\u2019s territory, and has claimed to have annexed five of the country\u2019s regions \u2014 Donetsk, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-499811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n