What Putin wants
For a ceasefire, Putin is demanding full withdrawal of troops from four Ukrainian regions. But it’s not just land – this territory represents the lives of countless Ukrainians. Here's what’s at stake.
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Instead of negotiating, Russia is putting forward ultimatums.
Russia demanded a full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions in exchange for a ceasefire.
This would give Russia an additional 23,000 square kilometers (about 9,000 square miles) of territory, roughly the size of Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined.
But this is more than just lines on a map. Acquiescing to Putin’s demands would mean abandoning Ukrainians that call those territories home – not to mention a slap in the face of soldiers who have fought and died to keep the frontline where it is.
These are first hand accounts of the people who would be lost if the territories were conceded – stories that tell us the real cost of Putin’s demands.
We tried to pick characters who would give you the deepest possible understanding of the nature of these places.
Olena Skabliakova, an engineer for the Ukrainian Railway, Donetsk region.
"The Donetsk region means a lot to me and Donetsk Railways gave me a ticket to life," said Olena Skabliakova, who worked as the head of the railway station of Kostiantynivka.
Olena Skabliakova has never left the Donetsk region. Surrounded by vast forests and slag heaps, she lived where people smell of sweat and coal, the air is thick with exhaust fumes from heavy industry.
Donetsk used to be a bustling metropolis where business thrived, major European football matches were held, and stars like Beyoncé and Rihanna came to perform.
But ever since Russian troops began their initial invasion of the Donetsk region in 2014, people like Olena have lived with an uncertain future.
Olena always loved trains, and like her parents and grandparents before her, she found a job at the Kostiantynivka railway — a vital transportation hub.
The Donetsk railways are strategically important for Ukraine. They transported coal and metallurgy products from the Donetsk region.
Before 2014, the region’s coal and metallurgy industries made up around 10 percent of Ukraine’s GDP.
When the Russians invaded in 2014, Olena’s station in Kostiantynivka stood at the edge of battle. It was the last stop separating Ukrainian-controlled territory from the occupied territories and became a refuge for people fleeing the war.
Now the Russians have turned the town into ruins. Ukraine holds only 40 percent of Donetsk land.
On February 25, 2024, the Konstantynivka railway station was the subject of a direct hit.
The station no longer works, and the city is completely shut down. Olena and her husband wanted to remain in the Donetsk region, so they moved to Sloviansk, about 20 kilometers from the frontline. She didn’t want to leave the railroad, so she works as a technical department engineer there now.
Olena plans to stay there as long as possible, refusing to leave her home a second time.
“No matter how much someone [Putin] wants it, we still want to live as part of Ukraine… He's just a sick person who is turning the Donetsk region into black ash,” Olena said.
Viktor Zozulia, Krasnorechensk settlement military administration, Luhansk region
“I don’t want to live under Russia,” said Viktor Zozulia, one of the last residents of Nevske, a twice-occupied village in the Luhansk region that remains under Russian control.
After working for 11 years at the village council, he left for Sloviansk and a new position at the Krasnorechensk Settlement Military Administration, which manages the region’s frontline villages.
Nevske came under occupation in March 2022. Viktor refused to leave for years – instead, he organized evacuations for others.
He left only in August 2024, when artillery fire made life impossible and there was not “a single house left standing.” He was the last one to make it out of his village. After Viktor left, the last dozen or so people went missing. There are fears that they have been shot.
Today, 98 percent of the Luhansk region is under occupation – the 2 percent of Luhansk under Ukrainian control is largely uninhabited.
Viktor believes Putin wants the easternmost region to take advantage of its logistic capabilities. The shared 700 kilometer border with Russia used to be a convenient trade corridor from Russian cities to Ukrainian ports.
But now, it has become a crucial route for transporting weaponry deeper into Ukraine and exporting stolen goods.
“The most important junctions of the railroad begin here [in the Luhansk region],” Viktor assured.
Viktor still hopes to return home one day – to restore what was lost and help rebuild what remains. Even if he manages to build a new life elsewhere, he will always carry the feeling of “someone who has been forced out” – not just from a place, but from a part of himself.
“Russia is like cancer,” Viktor said. “If [Putin] takes all four regions, in two or three years he will want to take four more regions.”
Oleksii Sivak, founder of NGO ‘Network of Men of Ukraine,’ helping former civilian prisoners, Kherson.
"In 2022, my old life ended and a new one began. I had to forget about my job as a sailor forever," Oleksii Sivak said.
When Russia launched its offensive in 2022, Oleskii’s home city of Kherson was occupied within a week, becoming the only regional capital that Russia managed to capture during the full-scale invasion.
Oleksii did not leave Kherson when Russia occupied the city. Nor did he leave after Ukrainian forces liberated the city in November 2022, and Russia turned the city into a giant “human safari.”
They call it a safari because Kherson is constantly under attack from FPV drones that ‘hunt’ civilians in the streets of the city.
For the past 16 years, Oleksii worked as a mechanic on ships. But Russia took away the sea he loved so much – the war has made it hard to make a living.
Kherson has always been associated with seafaring. The city had a maritime academy, and a shipbuilding plant.
Grain and other agricultural products were exported from Kherson. Russia’s occupation of Kherson had significant consequences for global food stocks. Before the war, Ukraine provided 46 percent of the world's sunflower oil exports, 9 percent of wheat, 17 percent of barley, and 12 percent of corn. The poorest countries in Asia and Africa were dependent on these supplies.
When Kherson faced a food shortage itself, Oleksii organized a field kitchen and fed elderly people who were left with nothing.
Because of his charity work, Oleksii was accused of “attempting to create a sabotage group of grandmothers.” He was detained on August 25, 2022. Right in front of his apartment door, Oleksii was struck on the back of the head and taken to prison.
“They just mocked me there. They knew right away that I had no information [about the deployment of Ukrainian troops], but they continued to torture me,” Oleksii said.
He was released on October 21, 2022, when the Russians fled the city. After that, Oleksii founded the NGO ‘Network of Men of Ukraine’, which provides former civilian prisoners with rehabilitation.
But the Russians did not go far. They are still standing five kilometers from the city on the other bank of the Dnipro River, across from Kherson city.
The constant shelling of Kherson is not Oleksii's biggest fear; he is far more afraid of what might happen if Russia retakes his city.
"I would like the people who propose simply giving up the occupied territories to live [there]. They don't understand that this is not about square kilometers of land, it's about people. People who live there and suffer," Oleksii said
Anastasiia a housewife and her husband Andrii* an engineer at Motor Sich, Zaporizhzhia
*Due to security concerns for critical infrastructure workers, their real names cannot be disclosed. We have changed them here.
Anastasiia, a 51-year-old housewife, and her husband, Andrii, an engineer, spent their whole lives in Zaporizhzhia.
The city is a metallurgical hub, annually producing about half of all Ukrainian steel and rolled ferrous metals, a fifth of Ukrainian pig iron, and a tenth of steel structures. The region is also home to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which supplied 20 percent of Ukraine’s electricity until Russian forces occupied it.
When the invasion started, life in Zaporizhzhia became so dangerous that Anastasiia had to live in the basement with her family.
At the time, Anastasiia had to take care of her elderly parents, but buying food and medicine became impossible. Her husband was on a work trip, so she took care of it all alone.
“Bare walls and a stone floor and a pile of garbage…my parents and I had to make the basement fit to live in with the bricks and boards we found there,” Anastasiia said.
Zaporizhzhia was never occupied by Russia, but came very close in 2022 before Ukraine’s counteroffensive pushed them back. Ukraine controlled about 30 percent of the territory of Zaporizhzhia region at the end of 2024, according to ISW.
But fear of occupation never left Anastasiia. She constantly worries about her husband, who works at Motor Sich, one of the world's largest corporations for the manufacture and repair of engines for airplanes and helicopters. It is the most targeted place in the city, as it is critical not only for civil aviation, but also for Ukrainian defense.
Today, Motor Sich focuses on developing and producing existing helicopter models and cooperating with Turkey to supply domestic aircraft.
Just a few nights ago the explosion from a Russian attack destroyed windows in the building where Anastasiia and her family lives. However, the family won’t leave – Anastasiia has elderly parents, so it would be extremely difficult for the family to move.
“Zaporizhzhia is something native, personal, incomparable to anything else. Everything from the longest avenue in Europe, and the mighty Dnipro rapids, to each of our homes,” Anastasiia said.
Tim Mak x Former CIA operative Michael Sellers:
Over the last decade, Ukraine’s secret services have evolved from inept to world class. Once derided as corrupt and infiltrated by Russia, Ukrainian spies have deployed creativity and ingenuity as tools for sneaky missions to weaken its adversary’s war effort.
Along with former CIA operative Michael Sellers, who specialized in Russia and eastern Europe, we trace the development of the SBU from incompetent to a ‘mini-Mossad.’
NEWS OF THE DAY:
PUTIN SAYS UKRAINE BELONGS TO RUSSIA. Russian President Vladimir Putin has reignited concerns over Moscow’s territorial ambitions, declaring that “Russians and Ukrainians are one people” and insisting that “all of Ukraine is ours.”
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin added: "We have a saying… where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours," and did not rule out capturing the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.
Ukrainian officials condemned the remarks, saying they revealed Putin’s “disdain” for peace negotiations.
RUSSIA TARGETS MIGRANTS FROM ASIA FOR WAR: Russia is recruiting Central Asian migrant workers as "cannon fodder" for its war in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR).
Russian security services are targeting migrant laborers from countries like Uzbekistan and Tajikistan upon arrival, offering short-term military contracts with promises of quick cash, only to be misled into serving on the front lines, HUR said.
The Kremlin has avoided a large-scale draft among Russian citizens since the 2022 partial mobilization, which triggered the exodus of over 200,000 Russians.
ZELENSKYY APPOINTS NEW COMMANDER: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has appointed Hennadii Shapovalov as the new commander of the country’s ground forces, aiming to boost mobilization and overhaul military training amid mounting battlefield pressure.
“Change is needed — it’s clear,” Zelenskyy said, as Ukraine faces a growing manpower shortage while Russia intensifies its offensive operations.
Western allies have urged Kyiv to lower the minimum mobilization age from 25, but Ukrainian officials have so far refused.
Shapovalov recently served as Ukraine’s representative to NATO’s command center in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he oversaw the coordination of arms and military aid delivery to Ukraine. From 2024 to early 2025, he also led military operations in southern Ukraine.
DOG OF WAR:
Nastia spotted this French Bulldog restlessly waiting for his owner to finish their coffee break. He trotted around the area, keeping a close eye on passing pedestrians.
Stay safe out there.
Best,
Clara
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Thank you for introducing us to the names and faces and lives of those most affected.
You must keep on fighting. Even today, NATO commanders are amazed at your progress using drone warfare and Britain is seriously reorganising its defence industry to take advantage of the progress you have made. Eventually you will win and slowly recover your lost territory. You recovered from defeat by the Mongols and you will recover from this invasion by the Russians.