Ukraine must relinquish the regions annexed by russia — Crimea, the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts — if it wants to reach peace. This was stated to the russian state agency TASS by the director of russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, according to the Telegram channel “The Moscow Times”.
According to Naryshkin, the terms of the agreement include “recognition of sovereignty” and the “current territorial borders” of russia. Among other demands, he named Ukraine’s “non-nuclear and neutral status”, as well as its “demilitarization and denazification”.
In addition, russia will seek the “repeal of all discriminatory laws” adopted by Kyiv after the 2014 coup, Naryshkin added.
The report notes that by February 2025, the russian army had seized 98.6% of the Luhansk oblast, 62.6% of the Donetsk oblast, 71.9% of the Zaporizhzhia oblast, and 69.3% of the Kherson oblast. However, in the latter two, it does not control the capitals — Zaporizhzhia (pre-war population around 706,000) and Kherson (275,000).
The U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East and one of the key participants in negotiations with russia on Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, proposed to U.S. President Donald Trump that he support this idea in the name of achieving peace. However, Trump has yet to make any decisions on the matter, according to Reuters sources.
As previously reported, Steve Witkoff stated that a peace agreement on Ukraine would include a settlement of the issue of “five territories”.