Istanbul: Russia is demanding Ukraine cede all of its eastern Donbas region, but would be willing to freeze the conflict in the south of the country along current front lines, Turkiye’s top diplomat has said.
Russia occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, and has claimed to have annexed five of the country’s regions — Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, along with Crimea, which it seized in 2014.
At peace talks in Istanbul this year, Russia’s negotiators demanded Ukraine pull out of those regions entirely as a precondition to ending the conflict that started with Russia’s 2022 invasion.
But following a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Moscow has scaled back its demands, Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.
“Now they have given up on that demand and are staying on the contact lines, except for one region ... There is currently a preliminary (agreement) regarding the return of 25-30 percent of Donetsk and maintaining the contact line in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson,” Fidan said in an interview with TGRT Haber on Thursday.
It was not clear who that agreement was between. Ukraine has repeatedly rejected territorial concessions, though President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said Kyiv would need to secure the return of land through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.
Russia has had total control of Crimea since 2014 and already occupies practically the entire Lugansk region.
Though Moscow controls most of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Ukraine holds the regional capitals there.
Asked about Fidan’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was “deliberately not disclosing all the details of the conversation between the two presidents in Alaska” as doing so would hinder the peace process.
The claimed shift in Russia’s position had previously been reported based on briefings by anonymous officials.
Turkiye has hosted three rounds of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul in recent months that have failed to break the deadlock.
Though a deadly strike on Kyiv that killed at least 23 people on Thursday further set back progress toward peace, Fidan hailed some diplomatic movement.
“The fact they have stated this themselves and have agreed to have it guaranteed by a security mechanism in principle ... actually provides a truly remarkable framework in this war,” he added.
However, he acknowledged it would be difficult for Ukraine to give up its territory, including heavily fortified terrain that could leave Ukraine vulnerable.
“Once that territory is given up, the remaining area becomes a bit difficult to protect strategically,” he said.
“But when you factor in security mechanisms and guarantees, you have to look at how the issue will unfold.”
Turkiye says Russia scales back Ukraine territorial demands
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Turkiye says Russia scales back Ukraine territorial demands
- Russia occupies around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory
UK police to arrest those chanting ‘globalize the intifada’
- Pro-Palestinian groups say the move will infringe on the right to protest and misunderstands the meaning of the word
- UK police say the context surrounding the chants has changed after the Bondi Beach attack
LONDON: People publicly chanting pro-Palestinian calls to “globalize the intifada” will be arrested, UK police warned Wednesday, saying the “context had changed” in the wake of Australia’s Bondi Beach attack.
The announcement by the police forces of London and the northwest English city of Manchester swiftly prompted accusations of political repression by some campaigners.
The move follows father-and-son gunmen killing 15 people Sunday at a Hanukkah festival on the Sydney beach and an October attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
“We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalize the intifada’,” the UK capital’s Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police said in a joint statement vowing to “be more assertive.”
“Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed — words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests.”
Jewish groups welcomed the announcement, with the UK’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis calling it “an important step toward challenging the hateful rhetoric we have seen on our streets, which has inspired acts of violence and terror.”
But Ben Jamal, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said in a statement that it infringes on the right to protest.
“The statement by the Met and GMP marks another low in the political repression of protest for Palestinian rights,” he said, ahead of a planned central London pro-Palestinian protest Wednesday evening.
He criticized the lack of consultation over the move, adding “the Arabic word intifada means shaking off or uprising against injustice.”
‘Sickening’
“It came to prominence during the first intifada which was overwhelmingly marked by peaceful protest that was brutally repressed by the Israeli state,” Jamal said.
The intifada refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israel. The first raged from 1987 to 1993, while the second flared between 2000 and 2005.
UK police have already stepped up security around the country’s synagogues, Jewish schools and community hubs in the wake of this year’s violent incidents.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged Australia to act against a “surge” of antisemitism after Sunday’s atrocity, echoing similar previous demands aimed at Britain.
In a social media post, Saar branded slogans heard at pro-Palestinian protests such as “Globalize the Intifada” “Death to the IDF,” the Israeli military, as antisemitic and violent incitement.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose wife is Jewish, denounced the weekend gun rampage in Australia as “sickening,” saying it was “an antisemitic terrorist attack against Jewish families.”
Chief prosecutor Lionel Idan said Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was “already working closely with police and communities to identify, charge and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.”
“We will always look at ways we can do more,” he added.
Hate crime referrals and completed prosecutions rose by 17 percent to 15,561 in the year to June 2025, according to the CPS.
