Turkish Foreign Minister: Russia no longer wants to control four regions of Ukraine, asks for two

Russia has allegedly abandoned its plans to fully control four regions of Ukraine that have been partially occupied since 2022. This was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in an interview with TGRT Haber TV.

According to him, during the third round of Russian-Ukrainian talks in Turkey, specific positions of each side were presented for the first time. Then the same issues were raised at a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15.

"I will say this: earlier, the Russians intended to seize all the administrative borders of the four regions. Now they have abandoned these demands and, with the exception of one place, they remain within the contact line," Fidan said .

According to him, it is a question of transferring to Russia 25-30% of the Donetsk region that has not been captured, as well as holding positions along the contact line in Zaporizhzhia region.

"The fact that they said that and agreed that it would be guaranteed by a security mechanism actually offers something really remarkable. It provides a framework for this war that has been going on for almost four years. There are aspects of it that are difficult for both countries, especially for Ukrainians, to accept," the Turkish minister said .

At the same time, he noted that if Ukraine loses part of the Donetsk region, it could complicate the defense of the rest of the region.

• According to a June 10 KIIS poll, , more than half of Ukrainians are against territorial concessions to Russia, but 38% are ready for this step.
• On August 21, President Zelenskiy said that Putin knows there will be no way out of Donbas, but does not want to end the war. He told Trump that the Russian dictator wants to "sell the air".
• On August 27, a poll of Germans showed that 53% of Germans believe that Ukraine should give up territories to Russia to end the war.