When US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska on Friday, the two delegations will arrive with a separate geographical perspective.
For Washington, Ukraine includes land mass of some 600,000 square kilometers (about 230,600 square mi). But Moscow considers Ukraine 20% small, given that it sees eastern Ukraine as a Russian region.
Trump created some geographical confusion in the run-up for Friday’s meeting, repeatedly mentioned the incident in Alaska as a meeting “in Russia”, although the US bought the state from Russia in 1867 Russia and Ukraine.
It is a false name, however, Ukraine does not currently control any Russian region that it can exchange. Its counter aggressive in Russia’s Kursk region, which began in August 2024, is largely over. Therefore, Ukraine has a deal chip that will allow it to attach it to a land exchange. This is why Ukraine and his colleagues are afraid that Trump may aim to reduce the region for Russia for Ukraine.
Ukrainian region under Russian control
Russia has focused on gaining control over Eastern Ukraine in recent years. After the Euromadon Revolution overthrew the Ukraine’s supporter Russian government in 2014, Russian soldiers captured the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 in violation of international law.
On 18 March, Russia canceled the region after a Sham’s referendum. The Russian fighters then destabilized the two eastern regions of Donnetsk and Luhanskas, Ukraine. Together, thesis make two areas Donbas – Donnets River Basin, which flows into the Don River in Russia.
On 21 February 2022, Russia recognized two self-proclaimed Russian “People’s Republic” as independent states in Ukraine. Three days later, Moscow began a massive invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine was largely able to back down Russian forces attacking north during the first months of the war. Still Russia managed to win the Ukrainian region in the past. In addition to almost two-thirds of Donnetsk and almost all Luhanskas, Russia has controlled large parts of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in the southeast, although it does not fully control them.
In September 2022, Russia Nayak carried forward the referendum in all four areas, which is to display the desire for the population to join the Russian Federation. Recently, a council report in Europe said that citizens have faced violence and forcedness in the region. The report states that those who refuse to become Russian citizens are denied access to social services, education and health care.
Why does Donbas matter?
The Tasis region of geopolitical importance for Russia. Donbas has coal and ore deposits, which makes it an important center for steel and chemical industry. Rare Earth deposits, which are present here, will play a big role in the future, as they are essential for the production of smart technology and renewable energy. The eastern region so forms a land bridge for Crimea, with Ukraine currently cut off the Azov Sea.
The Donbas region, which has been seen fighting from 2014, has achieved military importance to Ukraine. This is where Ukraine has created a “fort belt”, which is currently the most important defensive line in the region against Russian forces. Although Russia controls a large portion of Donbas, it is not yet able to break this defensive structure.
The recent conversation between the US and Russia has allegedly focused on regional concessions, seeking complete control over Donetsk and Luhanskas in exchange for the return of Kherson and Zaporizhia. still Recent analysis The US Institute for the Study of the Study warned that Russia will forces Ukraine to release its ‘fort belt’ by giving Donnetsk’s Russian control. […] There is no guarantee that the fight will not resume. ,
What does the constitution say
After holding the Sham referendum, Russia amended its constitution, so that it is part of its territory. Evocating this step will be frightening with legal and political obstacles and possibly seen as a necklace of the Russian population.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government may not agree to abolish the Ukrainian region. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly cited Article 133 of the Ukrainian Constitution, which clearly lists all regions of the country, currently occupied by Russia. The constitution has a separate section on Crimea, which gives it partial autonomy.
Article 2 of the Constitution is the rule of any renunciation of the region. It states that “the area of Ukraine within its current limit is inseparable and invisible.” Regional changes can only be approved by a nationwide referendum. Constitutional modifications are only acceptable, however, once Ukraine suspends martial law.
Russian and Ukrainian constitutional area therefore obstacles with each other in relation to the eastern regions of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the situation under international law is clear, the lawyers agreed that the invasion of Russia’s Ukraine and all Sham referendum are illegal.
How NATO fits in the picture
NATO general secretary Mark Rute on Sunday created a stir, which told the US Broadcaster ABC that the future deal could accept that “Russia is actually controlling, factual in some fields of Ukraine.” Does this mean that NATO is accepting the surgender of the Ukrainian region and thus redistribution of boundaries by cruel force in its immediate neighborhood?
Rute said that the West “could never accept” legal sense, “and that only real recognition was acceptable. He then attracted the example of American embassies in Baltic states between 1940 and 1991, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were in Soviet capture. At that time, the US only welcomed the actual Soviet control, while still maintaining diplomatic relations for those who oppose the Soviet occupation.
This article was original in German.
