In brief: Ukraine rejected a US proposal to redraw Donbas borders as a way to break the deadlock in peace talks, insisting it will not recognize Russian control over occupied Ukrainian territory. Discussions in Abu Dhabi instead focused on security guarantees and humanitarian issues, including prisoner exchanges, while Washington sought to bring European officials into the negotiations.
Ukraine has rejected a US proposal to redraw the administrative boundaries of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, allowing Russia to claim control over the entire Donbas without capturing the Ukrainian-held cities it still seeks.
The proposal, put forward by US President Donald Trump’s peace envoys, envisaged changing the borders of the two eastern Ukrainian regions to reflect the current division of territory along the front line, The Telegraph reported, citing a Ukrainian source close to the negotiations.
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Under the proposed arrangement, Moscow could declare that it had achieved its goal of taking the entire Donbas, even though Ukrainian forces would retain control of cities that Russian troops have failed to capture.
The remaining Ukrainian-held areas would effectively fall outside the redrawn administrative boundaries of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The plan was an attempt to circumvent the biggest obstacle to a peace agreement: Russia’s demand that Ukraine surrender approximately 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of territory in Donetsk and Luhansk that Moscow’s forces have been unable to conquer.
But Kyiv rejected the idea, insisting it would never recognize Russian occupation, either de facto or de jure.
“Ukraine’s delegation never discussed any concessions on any territories which Russia occupies,” a Ukrainian source told The Telegraph.
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“Ukraine will never recognise it, neither de facto nor de jure. And this has always been our position at the table.”
The first round of trilateral negotiations took place on Tuesday, brokered by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The four-and-a-half-hour meeting focused primarily on humanitarian issues and security guarantees.
Territory remains the sticking point
The reported US proposal comes amid competing claims about the possibility of territorial concessions. Ahead of the negotiations, reports emerged that both Kyiv and Moscow had privately shown some flexibility on the issue, despite their sharply different public positions.
With little room for compromise on territory, US negotiators focused on postwar security guarantees intended to prevent another Russian invasion if a ceasefire is reached.
Opening the talks, Kushner said Washington believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to pursue peace under certain conditions.
“The question we get asked most by the Europeans is: Are the Russians and President Putin really ready for peace?” he said.
“And from what Steve and I have heard from him, we can say very strongly we believe so under the right conditions.”
But Moscow’s demands remain fundamentally at odds with Kyiv’s position.
Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine withdraw from Donbas. In June 2024, he also demanded that Kyiv recognize Russia’s claims to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as Crimea, as conditions for a ceasefire.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected any withdrawal from Ukrainian-held territory.
Speaking in Copenhagen on Tuesday, he accused Russian representatives of misleading Washington about the battlefield situation, claiming Moscow controlled more of the Donbas than it actually did.
According to Zelensky, Russian negotiators claimed to control roughly half of the territory still held by Ukraine in the region.
Kyiv challenged the figures with video and photographic evidence. Zelensky also said Putin appeared to be telling Washington that Russian forces could capture the remaining Ukrainian-held territory within several months.
Zelensky has insisted that territorial questions should ultimately be settled directly between the two countries’ leaders, saying he was prepared to meet Putin with US and European mediation.
Prisoners and security guarantees on the agenda
Zelensky described the first day of negotiations as “constructive and quite substantive,” saying the delegations had discussed humanitarian measures, prisoner releases, and long-term security guarantees for Ukraine.
A potential large-scale prisoner exchange was among the concrete issues discussed. Zelensky said the sides considered exchanging either 1,000 or 1,500 prisoners of war from each side, with the release of Ukrainian captives remaining a priority.
The delegations also discussed the substance of security guarantees for Ukraine and how to ensure they remain effective over the long term.
Kyiv wants legally binding guarantees that would deter another Russian invasion, rather than political assurances that could be abandoned by a future US administration.
The options under discussion include bilateral US guarantees and a European-led Coalition of the Willing backed by Washington. Ukraine has also maintained its ambition to join NATO.
Moscow, meanwhile, has demanded its own security guarantees and repeatedly called for restrictions on NATO’s military presence in Eastern Europe. The issue of security guarantees for Russia also featured in the Abu Dhabi discussions.
Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.
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