Although Volodymyr Zelensky, accompanied by several European leaders, will meet with Donald Trump in the White House on Monday, August 18, the fate of several regions of the country occupied by Russian troops is in the center of this diplomatic ballet to find an exit to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A plan, supported by Donald Trump according to an official quoted by the AFP who prefers to maintain anonymity, provides for the transfer to Russia of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lougansk, in exchange for a southern front frozen in those of Kherson and Zaporijia. But Kyiv until then refuses to abandon these regions, which she sees as “temporarily occupied.”
• Crimea, eleven years of occupation
Russian control over Crimea is particularly supported, Moscow attached this territory in 2014, after a referendum denounced by the international community.
Russia would like to obtain recognition of its annexation by Western countries and Kyiv. Donald Trump warned Sunday night that “it was no doubt” that Ukraine recovered Crimea’s control.
This tourist and wine area has been connected with Russia since 2018 by a long bridge, an objective of choice for the Ukrainian army. Ukraine also hits the military and naval infrastructure in the Peninsula, which Moscow uses as rear base for its army.
It is difficult to know how the life of the Ukrainians is seen in Crimea Annex and in other territories controlled by Moscow.
The repression is fierce and opposes the Russian occupation that exposes to detention, torture or death, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
The Kremlin is accused of “rusifying” these territories by controlling education, the media and all aspects of everyday life, by establishing Russian citizens there, as well as imposing a Russian passport to the Ukrainians.
• Donetsk and Lougansk, Kremlin priorities
These two border regions of Russia form DonBass, an industrial and mining basin whose conquest is a priority of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian troops have more than 99% of the Lougansk region and 79% of Donetsk’s, as well as its regional capitals, according to an analysis of the AFP of data from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
According to local authorities, some 242,700 people still live in the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, which includes several important cities.
This region is considered a “strength” that protects the rest of the country, according to ISW, but the Russian army is advancing and threatens the centers of Ukrainian military logistics that compose it.
The entire sections of this area are largely destroyed by a war initiated in 2014. Moscow had piloted a pro-Rusa separatist revolt, the invasion of February 2022.
Donetsk and Lougansk are traditionally most of the Russian speeches, which has been instrumentalized by Kremlin to justify their attack.
Russia claimed its annexation and that of the regions of Kherson and Zaporijia in September 2022. It was also in the Donetsk region where the most mortal battles took place, as in Bakhmout, Marioupol or Avdïvka.
• Kherson, then partially released
At the beginning of the invasion, the Kherson region, known for its agriculture, had been almost completely occupied by the Russian army.
A Ukrainian counteroffensive had made it possible to repel Moscow’s troops and take care of the homonymous regional capital in November 2022.
Thanks to the river that acts as a natural wall, the front has been relatively stable since then, as in the Zaporijjia region, and Ukraine maintains control of its main urban centers. Russian troops have about 71% of the territory of the Kherson region, according to the ISW.
• Zaporijjia, nuclear region
Russian soldiers are present in 74% of the Zaporijjia region, according to the same source. In particular, they have been celebrating the homonymous power plant during the first weeks of war, the largest in Europe.
He was arrested, but his security is considered precarious that he is close to the fight. Russia and Ukraine are regularly accused to attack it for strikes.
• Soumy and Kharkiv, special cases
In addition to the regions of which Russia claims annexation, its troops lead to those of Soumy and Kharkiv, in the northeast.
Despite frequent bombings, Russia does not have an extension city and is only present in 5% of the territory of the Jharkiv region and 1% of that of Soumy, according to the AFP analysis of ISW data.
The Kremlin claims to establish a “buffer zone” to prevent Ukrainian offensives in Russia, such as the summer of 2024, in the Russian region of Koursk.
Source: BFM TV
