Moscow Rules Out Returning Territory in Sumy and Kharkiv

Russia no longer intends to return occupied parts of Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions under a future peace agreement and plans to retain them as permanent buffer zones, according to Bloomberg.

Citing three sources close to the Kremlin, the news agency reported that President Vladimir Putin remained determined to seize the entire Donetsk region while retaining occupied territory in Sumy and Kharkiv.

The reported shift marks a hardening of Moscow’s position. Earlier informal proposals envisaged Russia withdrawing from parts of Sumy and Kharkiv in return for Ukraine ceding the remainder of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, Putin abandoned that idea after concluding that informal understandings reached with US President Donald Trump at their summit in Anchorage, Alaska, last August had collapsed. Washington has repeatedly denied that the meeting produced a peace agreement.

Moscow reportedly intends to resume serious peace negotiations only after capturing the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions. One source said the Russian Defense Ministry expected this goal to be achieved by the end of 2026, although other military officials considered that timeline unrealistic and believed full control of the Donbas was unlikely before 2027.

Ukraine continues to reject territorial concessions and insists that any settlement must respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

(Bloomberg, Kyiv Post, bak)