During negotiations with the United States in Saudi Arabia, Russia reportedly demanded full control over the four Ukrainian regions it said it had annexed. A map by Newsweek shows Vladimir Putin‘s proposed land grab.
The Russian president claimed in September 2022 to have seized the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson after hosting what were denounced internationally as sham referendums. Putin had illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
Despite the Russian leader’s 2022 declaration, Moscow does not fully control these Ukrainian regions but hopes that the U.S. can pressure Ukraine into giving them up. This is according to independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper The Moscow Times, which cites sources close to the Kremlin.
Newsweek cannot independently verify the report widely picked up by Ukrainian media and has contacted the Kremlin and the U.S. State Department for comment.
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Why It Matters
Since 2014, most of Luhansk Oblast and part of Donetsk Oblast had been controlled by pro-Russian separatists. In 2022, Moscow invaded the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov had said in December that Moscow aims to seize the entirety of all four oblasts in 2025. If their status came up in the Saudi talks, then there will be concern that Ukraine could be pressured by the U.S. to make a deal to surrender territory.
What To Know
As of February, the Russian army controlled around 98 percent of the Luhansk region, and roughly two-thirds of the other three regions.
A Kremlin-linked official told The Moscow Times that Putin cannot afford the political cost of losing these Ukrainian territories and that there was no constitutional mechanism for the regions to leave Russia, which the Kremlin considers them to be part of.
Another Russian government source told the publication that Moscow hopes that Washington might pressure Kyiv to withdraw entirely from the regions and that Trump could convince them to leave.
One option may be for Russia to try to seize parts of Dnipropetrovsk or Sumy oblasts, and then use them as bargaining chips for the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Moscow wants to avoid the high casualties that would result from storming Kherson or crossing the Dnieper River, the source added.
Reports that the regions’ status was under discussion come after there was outrage at U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff citing referendums in the four oblasts as showing most people there wanted to be under Russian rule; the ballots were denounced by the U.S. State Department in 2022.
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope for Ukraine, a charity that helps Ukrainians dealing with the war, told Newsweek that Witkoff had repeated Kremlin demands for Ukraine to surrender the parts of Ukrainian regions that are under Kyiv’s control.
Boyechko said that the referendums Witkoff referred to were “carried out at gunpoint and the results were a foregone conclusion,” and so no legitimate expression of public opinion. These four mainland regions were illegally annexed during Russia’s full-scale invasion and Ukraine would never give them up, Boyechko added.
Last June, Putin said that Russia would agree to a ceasefire and peace talks only if Ukraine withdrew from the four oblasts and formally abandoned its NATO aspiration.
What People Are Saying
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said on December 16, 2024: “In 2025, Moscow plans to achieve victory in the war.”
A Russian official cited by The Moscow Times said: “We need all of Zaporizhzhia and all of Kherson.”
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope for Ukraine, said: “The four mainland regions … were illegally annexed during Russia’s full-scale invasion and Ukraine will never give them up.”
What Happens Next
The White House said on Tuesday that both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to ensure safe passage for commercial shipping and stop military strikes in the Black Sea.
Washington added that the two countries agreed to try to implement an earlier deal to stop strikes against energy infrastructure.
The status of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions is likely to remain unresolved in the short term, however.