Swathes of Russian-held Ukrainian territory could be handed over to Moscow as part of a peace deal potentially negotiated by Donald Trump, according to reports.
Volodymyr Zelensky is prepared to cede the territory as part of a peace deal set in motion by the US president and Vladimir Putin’s meeting in Alaska this week, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
This could mean handing Russia control of territory it occupies in the five provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea, which has been held since 2014.
The reports comes, however, after Mr Zelensky urged European countries to push back on any settlement proposed by Mr Trump that would see Kyiv handing over land Ukraine still holds in these regions.
Here, The Independent takes a closer look at what territory could be ceded under the reported concessions.
Russia currently occupies about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine holds barely any Russian territory.
On Monday, Mr Trump told a White House press conference of his talks with Mr Putin, “This is really a feel-out meeting.”
He said he would know “probably in the first two minutes” whether progress was possible.
“I’m going to go and see the parameters now. I may leave and say, ‘Good luck.’ And that’ll be the end. I may say, ‘This, this is not going to be settled,’” he added.
Mr Trump said a future meeting could include Mr Zelensky and the US goal was a speedy ceasefire in the conflict. He plans to talk to European leaders soon after his talks with Mr Putin.
He added: “There’ll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine.”
He said Russia had occupied some “very prime territory” but “we’re going to try to get some of that territory back”.
