This handout photo, taken and released by the Ukrainian emergency service on August 18, 2025, shows a damaged residential building after an airstrike in Kharkiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mayor Igor Terekhov said on August 18, 2025 that an overnight Russian drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, killed three people and injured more than a dozen. (Photo by Handout / Ukrainian Emergency Service / AFP)
There are little hopes for an end to the war in Ukraine as Russia and Ukraine remain sharply divided over the future of Donetsk, a strategically important region in the country's east.
A senior aide to Vladimir Putin said on Friday that talks with United States envoys had made it clear that no peace deal is possible until disputes over the territory are resolved. According to Reuters, the comments came after discussions between the Russian president and US officials.
Also read: Ukraine supports 'essence' of peace deal with Russia but sensitive issues remain pending – Reuters
At the center of the standoff is Donetsk, one of the two regions that make up Donbass. Russian forces already control almost all of neighboring Luhansk, but have failed to gain full control of Donetsk despite months of heavy fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the regional issue would be discussed at United States-brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday. He has strongly rejected Russian demands that Ukraine withdraw from the 20 percent of Donetsk, some 5,000 square kilometers, still under Kiev's control.
Zelensky has said, “There is no reason to gift our land to Putin.”
Russia claims Donetsk is part of its historical lands and says it formally annexed the region in 2022 after a referendum that Kiev and Western governments described as illegitimate. Most of the international community continues to recognize Donetsk as Ukrainian territory.
Also read: Trump says Ukraine, not Russia, is stopping peace talks
Ukraine's occupied territories include the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which Kiev describes as fortress cities. They sit behind dense lines of trenches, bunkers, minefields and anti-tank defenses. Ukrainian officials consider them vital to stopping further Russian advances.
Military planners in Kiev argue that the land west of Donetsk is flat and difficult to defend. They fear that losing this territory would allow Russian forces to push deeper into Ukraine and threaten areas up to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.
Zelensky has warned that handing over Donetsk would give Moscow time and space to regroup. He said, “Any pause will only be used to prepare new attacks.”
Also read: Putin says Russia will take over Ukraine's entire Donbass region, militarily or otherwise – Reuters
According to Zelensky, Washington has put forward a proposal under which Donbass would become a demilitarized free economic zone, with neither Russian nor Ukrainian troops deployed. The White House has declined to comment on details of the talks.
United States President Trump said after meeting Zelensky in Davos that the war must end, but gave no indication of a breakthrough. He has criticized the idea that any land deal would require a referendum, saying “there will be some land swap going on”.
The Kremlin has suggested it could deploy National Guard units or police to Donbass instead of regular troops under the peace deal. Yuri Ushakov, a senior Kremlin aide, told Kommersant last month that the region is Russian and should be administered by Moscow, a position Kiev is unlikely to accept.
Zelensky has said he does not have the authority to hand over territory. Under the Constitution of Ukraine, any changes to national borders must be approved by referendum supported by three million voters in at least two-thirds of the country.
For now, the fate of Donetsk remains the biggest obstacle to peace, underscoring how far apart Moscow and Kiev still are despite new diplomatic efforts, Reuters reported.
