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The Age
36 minutes ago
- The Age
The sticking points when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's comments that he is ready for a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin have thrust the spotlight on what a final deal to end the 3½-year war could look like – and the details are far from certain. The biggest questions remain on what security guarantees Kyiv could be given, possibly in return for giving up territory to Russia – a condition thought to lie at the heart of Putin's peace terms. What about an immediate ceasefire? Questions also linger over securing a ceasefire before a broader peace deal is reached – an option apparently off the table since Trump's shift in position after he met Putin in Alaska. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pressed Trump not to give up on a truce entirely, saying he 'can't imagine' the next meeting taking place without one. But before the White House meeting with Zelensky and his European allies on Monday, Trump repeated his view that Ukraine and Russia should focus on a final deal that would include discussion of ' possible exchanges of territory', focused on the parts of the country that Russia now controls. What Ukrainian territory is in the spotlight? Since seizing Crimea in 2014 and launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has captured nearly 114,500 square kilometres or 19 per cent of Ukraine, including a major chunk of territory in the east and south-east of the country, according to open-source maps of the battlefield. That includes some 46,570 square kilometres, or 88 per cent, of the eastern Donbas region, taking in all of the Luhansk region and 75 per cent of the Donetsk region. Russian forces also hold about 74 per cent of the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, with Ukraine retaining about 14,500 square kilometres across both regions.
Sydney Morning Herald
36 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The sticking points when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine
Putin's reported terms involve Ukraine giving up the 25 per cent of the eastern region of Donetsk that it still holds. The battle lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia would also be turned into a new border, and Russia would keep the territory it occupies in both. Loading In return, the Russian leader has reportedly committed to pulling his troops out of the small areas of territory that Russia holds in Ukraine's Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. While it has not been spelled out, most analysts believe Putin also seeks formal recognition of Moscow's claim to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014 after a disputed referendum on joining Russia. Ukraine's position is that Crimea is part of Ukraine but privately, some Ukrainian officials admit that it would be extremely difficult to take it back by force. As the White House talks wrapped up on Monday, Zelensky told reporters that the territorial disputes would be left for him and Putin to determine at their meeting – which Trump wants to take place by the end of August, according to Axios. What are the options for security guarantees? Ahead of Tuesday's meeting, France's President Emmanuel Macron said European leaders would press Trump on 'what extent' he would back security guarantees for Ukraine. So far, Trump has stopped short of offering US boots on the ground and has said that Europe is the 'first line of defence', adding, however, that Washington would 'be involved'. Macron has said Ukraine requires an army capable of 'resisting and even containing any Russian aggression' of 'several hundred thousand people, which we will have to equip, train and maintain for a long time'. Loading Putin, for his part, wants to see limits imposed on the size of the Ukrainian armed forces, and an agreement that Ukraine will remain neutral. Macron has suggested any forces sent under the 'coalition of the willing' would have to prevent potential incursions into Ukrainian territory. They 'will not be deployed in hot zones' and will not perform peacekeeping functions, but will demonstrate 'strategic support', he said. According to the French leader, the Americans have demonstrated a willingness to work with this 'coalition of the willing', but military analysts say the details matter. A major peacekeeping force backing up the Ukrainian military would require tens of thousands of troops to be a credible deterrent against future Russian aggression, according to The New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger. 'A second possibility is a 'tripwire' force – one far smaller. It would not be able to mount much of a defence, but the theory is that the Russians would hesitate to risk killing non-Ukrainian Europeans in any resumed invasion effort,' Sanger notes. Another, mostly symbolic, option could be an even smaller 'observer force', though it would have almost no effective combat role in a future war. Whatever the final agreement, Ukraine already appears set for a major spending splurge, with the Financial Times citing a document seen by the paper as showing Kyiv lined up to buy $US100 billion ($154 billion) of American weapons financed by Europe under the terms of any security guarantees. What about NATO? Putin is also thought to want a legally binding pledge that NATO will not expand eastwards, sources told Reuters earlier this year. The expansion of NATO following the collapse of the Soviet Union has been a major sore point for the Russian leader over the years. Loading On Monday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said NATO membership for Ukraine was not under discussion, but that Kyiv could receive 'Article 5' type security guarantees – a reference to the part of the organisation's constitution that provides mutual defence. Article 5 enshrines the principle of collective defence, in which an attack on any of NATO's 32 members is considered an attack on all. Kyiv has long aspired to join the alliance and has enshrined it as a strategic objective in Ukraine's constitution.
Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘Fake news' network MSNBC ruthlessly mocked for ‘horrible' rebrand following NBC split
Left-leaning network MSNBC has been brutally mocked following the company's new rebrand to 'MS NOW' or 'My Source News Opinion World'. Social media users were quick to slam the new name and home of anti-Trump hosts such as Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace. 'MSNBC can change their name all they want, they'll still be the same fake news liars with horrible ratings,' wrote one user. The liberal network was forced to drop the MSNBC name following its split from parent company Comcast. MS NOW is now owned by the publicly traded company Versant and is expected to start at the end of the year, as it drops the iconic peacock from the NBC logo.
