Evaluating the Feasibility of Trump’s Ukraine Border Adjustment Plan
A “territory swap” is reportedly being discussed at the Trump–Putin Alaska summit, but in towns like this, people fear it could mean losing their homes all over again
A Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin summit is set to take place in Alaska on August 15 and it is anticipated that the president’s Russian counterpart will bring up Trump Ukraine map plan of a Trump Ukraine territory swap in exchange for a ceasefire. Kyiv would surrender its remaining parts of Donetsk that have not yet fallen under Russian control in exchange for Moscow’s agreement to end the fighting and freeze the line of contact elsewhere.
Donetsk and its neighbouring Luhansk are two eastern Ukrainian regions that border Russia. Combined, they are known as the Donbas, and have been a major Ukraine war territory swap since 2014, when Moscow-backed separatists occupied parts of the two provinces. Rebel-held territories in the two regions remained under their control until Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, after which Moscow declared the “liberation” of more cities and formally annexed the entire area.
What is the territory swap idea?
CNN, citing a Western official familiar with the discussions, reported that the Kremlin had made a proposal to US special envoy Steve Witkoff in his recent visit to Moscow to swap a ceasefire for territory in Donbas that has not yet been taken by Russian forces. From Moscow’s point of view, the goal is to solidify its grip over Donetsk and Luhansk and complete its long-sought control over the entire industrial region – a coal-rich an industrial hub with significant infrastructure that has played a key role in the conflict since 2014.
Trump himself has previously said that both sides will have to give up land to end the war, remarks that have raised Kyiv’s concerns the US would try to enforce a Ukraine Russia peace deal. The scenario most commonly discussed is one in which Ukraine would retreat from the remaining areas it holds in Donetsk, while Russia would stop its offensives in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and agree to freeze the line of contact.
