US weighs “cartographic trick” to redraw Donbas borders for Russia

The United States is considering a “cartographic trick,” according to a Russian outlet citing a British weekly: redrawing the borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions so that Moscow controls them 100 percent. Vladimir Putin could then declare victory without winning it on the battlefield. Ukraine refuses to cede Donbas.

What Moscow demands

In the talks, Russia insists that Ukraine withdraw from all of Donbas, which Moscow has failed to capture throughout the war. Ukraine still controls about 20 percent of the Donetsk region, including the Sloviansk–Kramatorsk defensive belt. Russian forces occupy about 99 percent of the Luhansk region.

The Kremlin illegally annexed the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, along with the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, in September 2022 after sham referendums. Russia occupied and annexed the Crimean Peninsula eight years earlier. Moscow claims all of these territories as Russian.

Other concessions and possible guarantees

Another concession the US is ready to offer the Kremlin, according to the same reports, is Russia's return to the European energy market, in violation of current EU law.

Diplomats in Washington admit that there is no guarantee either concession would interest Putin or ease tensions. Still unresolved are international security guarantees for Ukraine, its NATO membership and the downsizing of the Ukrainian army.

It was reported earlier that the US wants to offer Kyiv the benefits of NATO membership without joining the alliance. According to an unnamed senior US official, Washington asked Russia to allow security guarantees for Ukraine similar to Articles 4 and 5 of the NATO treaty, and for NATO itself to provide the same.

Ukraine, Russia and the US are currently negotiating in Abu Dhabi. Most likely, there will be no progress.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz