The sticking points when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine

The Age

a day ago

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.