How Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Are at an Impasse Over Territory

Russia’s war in Ukraine has now entered its fifth year. President Donald Trump said he could swiftly end the conflict upon his return to office, but more than a year of US efforts to negotiate a peace deal have failed to break the impasse on the issue of Ukraine’s occupied lands.

Russia has maintained its maximalist stance of wanting the part of the eastern Donetsk region that it hasn’t been able to capture — a demand that Ukraine has rejected. A US proposal to turn this area into a “free economic zone” to serve as a buffer has yet to win either side over.