Washington says territorial dispute remains the core unresolved issue
The future status of Donetsk has become the central issue preventing the conclusion of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
According to Rubio, territorial claims over Donetsk are now the last major sticking point in the negotiations. “The one remaining issue is the territorial claim on Donetsk. There is active work underway to see whether the positions of both sides can be reconciled,” he told lawmakers.
Talks narrowed to one — but the most difficult — question
Rubio stressed that despite some progress, a breakthrough has not yet been achieved. “It’s still a bridge we haven’t crossed. There is still a gap, but at least the number of unresolved issues has been reduced to one — and it is likely the hardest one,” he said.
Analysts note that after years of fighting, the status of eastern Ukrainian territories has become the core political and military issue around which all diplomatic efforts are now concentrated.
Donbas as a strategic objective for Moscow
The Donbas region, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, has been the site of armed conflict since 2014. According to open-source battlefield maps, Russian forces currently control roughly 80 percent of the region.
The annexation of Donbas has long been viewed as one of the Kremlin’s maximalist war goals. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that Russia would secure control over the region “one way or another” if Ukraine refused to cede it voluntarily.
Controversial peace proposals and Kyiv’s firm stance
The idea of ceding Donbas was also included in an earlier peace proposal circulated by the team of U.S. President Donald Trump. That plan drew sharp criticism from Ukrainian and European officials, who argued it was heavily tilted in Moscow’s favor. A revised version of the proposal later softened several of its most pro-Russian elements.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine will not relinquish Donbas as part of any ceasefire arrangement. He argues that such concessions would only give the Kremlin a platform for renewed aggression in the future.
How Western observers see the talks
According to Politico, the fact that negotiations have narrowed to a single territorial dispute highlights both the depth of the disagreement and how close the diplomatic process has come to its most sensitive phase. The fate of Donetsk, analysts say, is likely to determine whether a compromise is achievable in the near term or whether the conflict will remain frozen.
This article was prepared based on materials published by Politico. The author does not claim authorship of the original text but presents their interpretation of the content for informational purposes.
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