Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated he may be open to a territory swap involving areas controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine, while insisting that all of Donbas remain under Russian control, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Putin reportedly briefed top Russian businessmen during a late-night meeting at the Kremlin on December 24, outlining his vision for a potential peace deal.
“Donbas is ours,” Kommersant quoted Putin as saying, while noting that outside the Donbas region, partial territorial exchanges are not ruled out.
The report comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukrainian and U.S. delegations had moved closer to finalizing a 20-point peace plan during recent talks in Miami. However, disagreements remain over the future of Ukrainian-held areas in Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control.
The newspaper also noted that Putin raised the issue of the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, suggesting joint Russian-U.S. management. He added that the plant could be partially used to supply Ukraine with electricity and mentioned U.S. interest in crypto mining operations nearby.
Background: Russia controls all of Crimea (annexed in 2014), about 90% of Donbas, 75% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and smaller parts of Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Putin has previously stated that a peace deal should include Ukraine withdrawing from these territories and renouncing NATO membership.
