What Ukrainian territory does Russia control?

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders are in Washington DC today to meet US president Donald Trump, following the latter’s summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin last Friday (15 August).

While no deal was struck between the two leaders, it’s been reported that Mr Trump may push Mr Zelenskyy to agree to territorial demands made by Mr Putin involving the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Conflict in this region has been ongoing since 2014—eight years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began—when Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, which make up Donbas, broke away from the Ukrainian government.

Since 2022, Russia has claimed both regions as part of its own territory, but this annexation has been widely condemned as a breach of international law.

Russian forces reportedly currently control almost all of Luhansk, while approximately 30% of the Donetsk region remains under Ukrainian control, according to Mr Zelenskyy.

The Institute for the Study of War has noted that the current front line in Donetsk is heavily fortified, and that ceding the entire region would potentially leave neighbouring parts of Ukraine more vulnerable to future Russian attacks.

There also appears to be some confusion around what, if anything, Mr Putin is prepared to offer in exchange for his apparent demand that Ukraine cedes the entirety of the Donbas region to Russia.

It was reported last week that US officials believed Russia could withdraw from two other regions of Ukraine—Zaporizhzhia and Kherson—which it currently partially occupies. However it’s since been reported that a deal would only freeze the current front lines, rather than see Russian forces withdraw from these regions entirely.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social ahead of today’s meeting, Mr Trump appeared to rule out Ukraine regaining control of Crimea—which was annexed by Russia in 2014—or joining NATO.