Posted on 08/13/2025 3:17:00 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Speculation has swirled over whether the Trump-Putin summit will result in the map of Ukraine being forcibly – and fundamentally – altered.
Russia has laid claim to vast parts of Ukraine since 2014, when President Vladimir Putin made his first move.
At the time, in the space of a short few months, Moscow carried out the relatively bloodless occupation and annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
But that was followed by a Russian-backed separatist movement in the eastern Donbas region – specifically the two regions, or "oblasts", known as Donetsk and Luhansk.
A war simmered there for eight years.
Ukraine lost around 14,000 soldiers and civilians during this period.
But in February 2022, Putin launched his full-scale invasion. Russian troops quickly reached the outskirts of Kyiv and seized huge swathes of the south, including big chunks of two more oblasts, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
The war has ebbed and flowed ever since. Russia now controls rather less territory - down from about 27% in the spring of 2022 to around 20% now. In the east, Russian forces are advancing, but very slowly and at great cost.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine says an unconditional ceasefire is needed now. European allies also insist on on a halt in fighting. US President Donald Trump says that is what he has been trying to achieve.
But in the run-up to his Alaska summit with Putin, Trump has started talking, instead about territorial swaps. That has sent shockwaves across Kyiv and Europe.
It is not clear what land Trump is referring to, or what those swaps could look like, given that all the territory in question legally belongs to Ukraine.
As of August 2025, the territory of Ukraine looks as follows:
Russia would dearly love to expand its control over the entirety of Luhansk and Donetsk.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Z’s problems are growing by the hour now. He’s in a panic over Odessa, the situation there doesn’t look good. Donetsk is another problem, Russian military rep said it’s probably gone very soon. Ukraine put up a great defense until the soldiers got attritted to the point that the ones left can’t cover the entire front.
Odessa is 124 miles by road behind the front lines. To take it the Russians would need to:
1. Make an opposed crossing of the Dnieper
2. Retake Kherson without heavy equipment
3. Build bridges or ferries to move heavy equipment over the Dnieper
4. Drive 124 miles deep into enemy territory
None of which the Russians have shown themselves capable of on the past year…
Z would be smart to cease fire and regroup but like all politicians he is worried about his job more than his country. Cease fire would give him time to re-arm and come up with a new strategy and also maybe an economic boost.
But it’s difficult for leaders to write off territory that was lost in a war. Even though that’s been happening since the dawn of time.
Putin has no incentive to cease fire and he’s certainly not giving up the territory linking Russia to Crimea.
Putin claims he is trying to rescue Eastern Ukraine.. but all he has accomplished is completely destroying all the cities he was supposedly coming to save and murdering many of the very same people he was supposedly there to save.
Hard to believe people are fighting over an area named dumbass.
“None of which the Russians have shown themselves capable of on the past year…”
Z is the one worried and talking about it.
Ukraine has finally lost enough troops it can’t defend the entire front anymore. This is info coming from both sides plus ex-military observers.
Russia adds 35,000 trained troops each month, out of 50,000 that volunteer. The last figure I saw from Ukraine was 1,700 in a month, that was months ago. It takes 6-12 months to properly train soldiers before they go to the front line, if you want them to live a while.
Ukraine is running out soldiers and candidates to become soldiers. That is Russia’s goal.
Mother Russia has lots of sons.
You need 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 odds to attack across a river against a defended position, plus additional forces to simply hold the bridgehead. Not to mention the engineers to build a usable crossing, additional forces to exploit the breakthrough, and the logistics to keep all of the above supplied.
The Russians have yet to show they are capable of that.
Territorial swaps - just restore 1939 borders. Finland regains lost territory, Poland shifts back to the East, Germany gets back East Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, and Sudetenland. France keeps Alsace and Lorraine. Russia gets back its territory in the west.
The War of attrition is turning against Zelensky.
He will need to Triple his Forced Ukie Conscription Squads.
Lower the Draft Age to 18 and up.
I think everyone’s gotten it wrong.
Trump is not talking about Ukraine ‘ceding’ the territories of Dombast, etc. One can not give or cede territories that one does not have. Russia already has those territories.
I think what Trump implied is that Ukraine will have to give up territories that are not yet controlled by Russia, and Russia, some of the territory it gained in order to draw a clean border, for example along a river bank, etc.
Or that Russia might give back some costal territories near Odessa in exchange for more territories in the North East of Ukraine.
The idea that Ukraine is balking at ‘giving’ territories to Russia, territories that Russia already controls is schizophrenic, like a break from reality.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.