‘There is only one line of demarcation — the state border’: Ahead of talks with U.S., Putin calls lasting peace impossible with ‘gray zones’

Vladimir Putin spoke about the Ukrainian territories Russia claims ahead of a meeting with U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.Questions of territory are being raised by both sides. What matters more to us are the people who live [there] - their traditions, their culture, their right to live by their own rules and their own traditional values […]. We know the Ukrainian side is raising questions about gray zones. And this, as I’ve said before, will always be a bone of contention. For us, there is only one line of demarcation — the line of the state border.Putin said the different sides always understand the size of the “gray zones” differently, which is why related agreements become unstable, and that “there will be no lasting peace.”Ahead of the talks in Abu Dhabi, The Economist reported that Kushner and Witkoff had proposed that Ukraine officially change the borders of Donbas: this would allow Moscow to claim it controls the region in its entirety, while Kyiv would not actually have to cede unoccupied territory. According to the publication’s sources, Ukraine rejected this proposal.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that at the talks in Abu Dhabi, Russian representatives exaggerated the size of the Donbas territory controlled by the Russian army. He said that NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich, who was present at the meeting, confirmed that the Ukrainian version of the line of demarcation is closer to reality.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.