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As President Trump attempts to help negotiate an end to , questions have grown about what will happen to Ukrainian territory claimed by the Kremlin and held by Russian forces.
any ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine would involve "some land swapping," though it isn't clear exactly what that means.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and controls or claims about 20% of Ukraine's land.
The map below shows those areas, highlighted in red, based on recent from two nonprofit think tanks, the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project.
Mr. Trump in Alaska on Friday and at the White House Monday.
During the talks in the Oval Office on Monday, a map of Ukraine was that showed areas of Ukrainian territory that are currently controlled by Russia or that are contested, with the estimated percentage of Russian control listed for each region, seen below.
One area that Putin is believed to want Ukraine to give up as a condition for peace is the eastern Donbas region, which has seen some of the most intense fighting of the war. It is made up of two oblasts, or provinces, called Donetsk and Luhansk.
Residents of this region are largely Russian-speaking and parts of the area have been since a Russian-supported insurgency ramped up in 2014.
At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin recognized the independence of these separatist regions and was accused of using their protection as a pretext for Russia's invasion, making a televised address in which he claimed the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk had appealed to Russia for help.
Despite Russian forces then invading and holding portions of eastern Ukraine, through the course of the war they have failed to capture the region completely.
surrendering Ukrainian territory to Russia, including in the Donbas region, as part of a ceasefire deal.
And Ukraine's leader would not technically be allowed to cede any Ukrainian lands to Russia, as part of ceasefire negotiations or otherwise, because doing so could violate Ukraine's constitution, which specifically .
That also means Zelenskyy can't cede the territory of Crimea, which was invaded and annexed by Russia in 2014.
Instead, some analysts have suggested that, to achieve a ceasefire agreement, a deal could be struck to essentially freeze the front line — which snakes roughly 620 miles from northeastern Ukraine to its southern coast on the Black Sea — without Ukraine officially giving away the land on the other side.
Zelenskyy also that ceding any of Ukraine's territory to Russia could benefit Russia in any future potential aggression toward Ukraine.
Putin has clearly stated that he believes Ukraine is part of Russia politically, culturally and linguistically, and Ukraine fears a pause in the fighting without robust security guarantees from the U.S. or European allies would leave the door open for Putin to rebuild Russia's military capabilities and invade again.
"For the Russians, Donbas is a springboard for a future new offensive," Zelenskyy told reporters ahead of Mr. Trump's . "If we leave Donbas of our own accord or under pressure, we will invite a third war."
Meanwhile, as talks continue, Russia has continued its . Ahead of Mr. Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy on Monday, Russian strikes hit multiple cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Sumy, according to local media.
