The fate of several regions of the country occupied by Russian troops is at the center of the diplomatic ballet to find a way out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A plan, supported by Donald Trump according to an official who prefers to keep anonymity, provides for the sale of Russia to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lougansk, in exchange for a southern front frost in those of Kherson and Zaporijia. But kyiv until then refuses to abandon these regions, which she sees as “temporarily occupied”.
A Ukrainian cemetery in Kramatorsk (Donetsk region), in February 2024 (AFP / Anatolii Stepanov)
Donetsk and Lougansk, Kremlin priorities
These two border regions of Russia form the Donbass, an industrial and mining basin whose conquest is a priority of the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Russian troops hold more than 99% of the Lougansk region and 79% of that of Donetsk, as well as their regional capitals, according to an analysis by AFP of data from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which works with Critical Threats Project (CTP).
According to local authorities, some 242,700 people still live in the part of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, which includes several important cities.
This region is considered a “fortress” which protects the rest of the country, according to Isw, but the Russian army is advancing and threatens the Ukrainian military logistics centers that compose it.
Whole sections of this area are largely destroyed by a war started in 2014. Moscow had piloted a pro-Russian separatist revolt, the invasion of February 2022.
Donetsk and Lougansk are traditionally a majority of Russian -speaking, which has been instrumentalized by the Kremlin to justify its attack.
Russia claimed their annexation and that of the Kherson and Zaporijia regions in September 2022.
It was also in the Donetsk region that the deadliest battles took place, as in Bakhmout, Marioupol or Avdïvka.
Map of Ukraine indicating the territories claimed by Russia in the country (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijjia and Kherson) and in Crimea (annexed in 2014), as well as the advance of Russian troops, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War and Aei’s Critical Threats Project at August 17, 2025 (AFP Pacheco)
Kherson, occupied then partially released
At the start of the invasion, the Kherson region, known for its agriculture, had been almost entirely occupied by the Russian army.
A Ukrainian counter-offensive had made it possible to repel the troops of Moscow and to take over the eponymous regional capital in November 2022.
Thanks to the river which acts as a natural rampart, the front has been relatively stable since, as in the region of Zaporijjia, and Ukraine keeps control of their main urban centers.
Russian troops have around 71% of the territory of the Kherson region, according to AFP data.
Cards showing the evolution of the Russian forces controlled in Donbass, on four dates between September 5, 2024 and August 17, 2025, from the data provided by the ISW, which works with Critical Threats Project (CTP) (AFP / Cléa Péculier)
Zaporijjia, nuclear region
Russian soldiers are present on 74% of the Zaporijjia region, according to the same source. In particular, they have been holding the eponymous nuclear power plant for the first weeks of war, the largest in Europe.
It was arrested but its safety is deemed precarious being located close to the fighting.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of targeting it.
Soumy and Kharkiv, special cases
In addition to the regions of which Russia claims the annexation, its troops lead incursions into those of Soumy and Kharkiv, in the northeast.
Despite frequent bombing, Russia holds no city of scale and is only present in 5% of the territory of the Kharkiv region and 1% of that of Soumy, according to AFP calculations.
The Kremlin claims to want to constitute a “buffer zone” in order to prevent Ukrainian offensives in Russia, such as that in the summer of 2024 in the Russian region of Koursk.
Crimea, eleven years of occupation
Russian control over Crimea is particularly supported, Moscow having annexed this territory in 2014, after a referendum denounced by the international community.
Russia would like to obtain recognition of its annexation by the Western countries and by kyiv.
Donald Trump warned Sunday evening that he was “no question” that Ukraine regained control of the Crimea.
This tourist and wine area has been connected to Russia since 2018 by a long bridge, target of choice for the Ukrainian army.
Ukraine also strikes military and naval infrastructure in the peninsula, which Moscow uses as a rear base for its army.
It is difficult to know what the life of Ukrainians in annexed Crimea and in other territories controlled by Moscow looks like.
The repression is fierce, and oppose the Russian occupation exposes to detention, torture or death, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
The Kremlin is accused of “russify” these territories by controlling education, the media and all aspects of daily life, by setting up Russian citizens there, as well as imposing a Russian passport on the Ukrainians.