American negotiators have proposed redrawing the boundaries of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as part of a territorial agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war, The Economist reported, citing sources.
Journalists say this would allow Moscow to claim full control of the regions without Ukraine having to cede any territory.
Sources cited by The Economist also described Russia’s “unusual flexibility” during the negotiations. However, they noted that this openness to dialogue emerged after a proposal to discuss European security, and US representatives fear it may be a pretext to prolong the fighting.
On November 9, US President Donald Trump announced that, after the war ends, Ukraine “will take a slightly different shape,” Meduza reports.
Russia insists on international recognition of its control over Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, including areas it does not control.
A source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office told Meduza in late October that this was unacceptable to Ukraine, despite the Ukrainian leader’s earlier willingness to discuss dividing the territory.