Russia wants Ukraine's Donetsk region
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders have compared the transfer of part of Donetsk Oblast to Russia to the US having to give up part of Florida. This analogy left a strong impression on US President Trump during talks at the White House on Monday 18 August.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy firmly rejects Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands to cede the Donbas region, citing sovereignty concerns and the area's critical economic and strategic importance.
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The New Voice of Ukraine on MSNSeizing all of Donetsk Oblast would take years, not weeks — ISW
According to ISW analysts, Putin continues to rely on slow, grinding infantry assaults, limiting the pace at which Russian forces can advance. Ukraine’s drone strikes have significantly undermined Russia’s ability to deploy heavy equipment on the battlefield,
US President Donald Trump was reportedly ready to cut short talks with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska due to Putin's intransigence over his demand to annex the entire Donetsk Oblast. Source: Axios,
ANALYSIS: Trump’s call to the Kremlin mid-session with Europe’s leaders is not good news, Sam Kiley, world affairs editor, says
At the top of Vladimir Putin’s shopping-list is the western part of Donetsk province, which is still firmly in Ukrainian hands. But it is not just the symbolism that is important to him. The real prize is to force Ukraine to abandon its strategically critical “fortress belt”,
Surrendering a strategically significant part of Donetsk could leave Ukraine vulnerable, said the Institute for the Study of War.
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Ukrainska Pravda on MSNTrump nearly stopped Alaska talks after Putin demanded all of Donetsk Oblast – Axios
US President Donald Trump has been reportedly ready to cut short talks with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska due to Putin’s intransigence over his demand to annex the entire Donetsk Oblast. Source: Axios,
Russian forces struck the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast on the late evening of 18 August - at the same time as multilateral talks on ending the Russo-Ukrainian war were under way in Washington.