Mapped: Frontline in Ukraine as Kyiv and Moscow start first direct talks since 2022 | EUROtoday

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will sit face-to-face for the primary spherical of direct peace talks between the warring international locations since March 2022.

Hopes of a gathering between Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on the Istanbul talks had been dashed when the Kremlin revealed its listing of delegates, confirming the Russian president wouldn’t be becoming a member of.

The Ukrainian president had provided to fulfill Putin in individual for the primary time since 2019, goading the Russian chief by questioning if he was courageous sufficient to point out up.

It is unclear whether or not Mr Zelensky – who’s in Turkey for a gathering with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara – will be a part of the talks. He beforehand mentioned he was not ready to speak to anybody however Putin.

On Wednesday, the US mentioned it could ship particular envoy Steve Witkoff and secretary of state Marco Rubio to the negotiations, however Donald Trump has excused himself.

Russia has rejected Ukraine’s repeated supply of a complete, unconditional 30-day ceasefire which Mr Zelensky says would enable for correct peace negotiations to happen. Moscow says lots of its maximalist calls for haven’t been met.

As talks get underway on Thursday, right here’s a take a look at the present state of play on the battlefield.

Eastern frontline

Russia focuses the vast majority of its assaults on Ukraine’s japanese frontline, notably the Donetsk area the place it launches dozens of assaults every day. It channelled the majority of its forces in direction of the east and south, after withdrawing from northern Ukraine within the warfare’s early months.

Moscow’s warfare machine grinds ahead in a warfare of attrition, struggling important troop losses for the sake of comparatively incremental territorial good points.

Russian advances have slowed in latest months, as Kyiv’s forces ferociously defend a closely fortified frontline – and in latest weeks have even launched minor counterattacks of its personal.

There has not been a substantial amount of motion on the japanese frontline previously two years, however Russia continues to advance village-by-village.

Kursk

Moscow claims it has pushed Ukrainian troops out of Kursk, after Ukrainian troops smashed by way of the border in a shock incursion in August 2024. Kyiv mentioned it had seized greater than 1,000 sq. kilometres of the Russian area bordering northeast Ukraine.

Russian forces steadily pushed again for months, deploying 1000’s of North Korean troops despatched by dictator Kim Jong-un to spice up their manpower.

In March 2025, a speedy advance noticed Ukrainian management over Kursk collapse, with Vladimir Putin claiming inside weeks that Russia had pushed Kyiv’s troops fully from the area.

Fighting continues in small pockets of Kursk and the Belgorod area on its southern border, however Ukrainian management is now very restricted.

Crimea

Crimea, Ukraine’s southern peninsula which Russia illegally occupied in 2014, was a important sticking level throughout earlier negotiations.

A spherical of intense shuttle diplomacy between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in April laid naked the stark variations in place over the area.

Mr Zelensky had sparked anger from the White House after stating of Crimea: “There is nothing to talk about – it is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people.”

A proposed US peace deal, revealed final month, included the authorized recognition by Washington of Russian management over Crimea. It is unclear whether or not the US proposals are set to be mentioned on Friday.

April peace proposals

In April, each the US and Europe printed their very own units of proposals for peace in Ukraine.

Along with a authorized recognition of Russia’s management in Crimea, Washington proposed in reality US recognition of Russian management of the occupied japanese Ukrainian area of Luhansk and elements of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Kherson, all of which lie on the frontline.

It is unclear the place the strains of demarcation could be, and whether or not Washington was demanding that Ukraine cede all the land at present occupied by Russia within the areas of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Kherson.

Ukraine would regain territory within the northeastern Kharkiv area, the proposals state, together with management of the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant by way of US management and administration of the plant. Electricity could be provided to each Ukraine and Russia.

European and Ukrainian allies responded with their very own set of proposals, by which they declared that “territorial issues will be discussed and resolved after a full and unconditional ceasefire”.

Territorial negotiations would begin from the idea of the road of management – however Ukraine could be assured management of the Zaporizhzhia plant with US involvement.