Kremlin Responds to Zelensky's Donbas Referendum Suggestion

Putin's aide Yury Ushakov stated that the entirety of Donbas belongs to Russia.

Photo: Dmitry Plotnikov Pravda.Ru by Neyroset

Russian Army fighters

"Donbas is Russian," he said.

The day before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainians must express their view on whether Kyiv should relinquish control over the parts of Donbas it still holds.

"In the format of elections or in the format of a referendum, but the people of Ukraine must have a position,” he declared.

The Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, along with the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, were incorporated into Russia following referendums held in 2022.

Moscow continues to insist on the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donbas. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that this region is historically Russian territory and will be returned "by military or other means.”

According to reports in The Telegraph, Kyiv may be willing to relinquish certain territories if Russia agrees to "reciprocal concessions.” Ukrainian authorities had previously ruled out such steps — refusing both territorial compromises and what they described as "ambiguous” security guarantees.

The territorial question has been discussed for several months by the United States, the European Union, and Ukraine, with each side offering its own set of proposals within evolving peace plans. Zelensky has noted that Ukraine's vision of peace differs from that of US president Donald Trump.

According to Le Monde, Kyiv may be prepared to accept the creation of a buffer zone in Donbas as part of a new peace proposal. However, both sides of the line would need to be subject to demilitarization, said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Office.

This concession appears in the updated "peace plan” presented by Zelensky to the American president on December 10. The United States removed provisions that Ukraine considered problematic, and the plan now consists of twenty points, the Ukrainian leader said.

According to Ushakov, Moscow has not yet reviewed the updated versions of the plan, though he suggested that Russia may not be satisfied with all the revisions.