Putin does not want to give up even an inch of the occupied Ukrainian territories.

MoscowOne of the most speculated-about points before the call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was the situation in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Curiously, none of the statements after the conversation referred to this issue, but the fact that nothing was said means they didn't talk. In fact, shortly beforehand, in a closed-door meeting with business leaders reported by the newspaperKommersante, the Russian president had asserted that if the West had recognized his sovereignty over Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, "the war could have been prevented."

According to this information, Russia demands that "the territories under Russian control not return to Ukraine." Furthermore, it wants international recognition of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (annexed since 2014), and of the Donetsk provinces (it controls 99% of them, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense), Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia (approximately 75% under Russian occupation). And that's not all. It threatens that if its demands are not met, it could reclaim territories that Russia has not even partially conquered, such as Odessa, a strategic outlet for Ukrainians on the Black Sea.

While Volodymyr Zelensky uses the 1991 borders, the year of Ukraine's independence, as a red line for negotiations, Putin is moving forward determinedly to strengthen employment in Ukrainian regions. Not only did he incorporate the provinces into the Russian Constitution in the fall of 2022 after promoting illegal referendums, but he has also been distributing Russian passports to their inhabitants, who have not fled, for years. At the beginning of the month, the Kremlin assured that it had already finished issuing practically all the documentation for the 3.5 million citizens living in eastern Ukraine under Russian administration.

Since January 1, Moscow has declared residents of these areas without Russian passports "foreigners and stateless persons." Without these papers, they cannot receive pensions or other social benefits, nor have access to healthcare or education. Furthermore, according to a presidential decree signed this week, if they do not regularize their status by September 10, they will be expelled from the country. The Ukrainian government denounces the imposition of Russian passports as a violation of international law.

War in school

Another indicator that Putin has no intention of backing down is the redesign of the maps. At least 57 Russian schools have had to hang maps of Russia in their classrooms that include the four annexed provinces and Crimea following complaints from the prosecutor's office. According to the mediaViorstka, prosecutors argue that they could instill in children "misleading knowledge about Russia's borders and territorial integrity."

Schools are also a scene of dispute in the occupied towns and cities. Amnesty International warns that the new administration's curricula are "full of clichés and Russian propaganda." Its report concludes that the textbooks contain "falsehoods" and "distort the facts about Russia's human rights violations against Ukrainians." The Ukrainian National Center of Resistance reports that in villages in Kherson, at the start of this school year, Russian soldiers conducted house-to-house raids to force parents to bring children to class, under threat of taking them into custody. They also checked their electronic devices to ensure they were not following any Ukrainian educational curriculum online.

Determining what percentage of the population in these regions would prefer to live under Russian administration and what percentage under Ukrainian administration is impossible. Before the war, almost nine million people were registered in this area, which had already been severely affected by the simmering war since 2014. In recent years, a significant proportion have fled, and the new local authorities have turned a blind eye, aware that this was also a sly way ofRussifythe population is rapidly declining. Many of those who have stayed celebrate "liberation" by Russia, but many others simply wish to live in peace and quiet.

Mariupulo, the false mirage

One of the Donbas cities that suffered most from the war was Mariupol. Sadly known throughout the world for the Russian bombing of a theater that housed hundreds of civilian refugees and for the fierce battle of Azovstal in the spring of 2022, the Russian government now wants to turn it into an emblem of reconstruction. Before the invasion, an estimated 420,000 people lived there, but during the 80-day siege, 95% of the buildings were damaged and about half were destroyed.

Videos circulate on TikTok of influencers that show off brand-new avenues and buildings and praise the wonders of the renovated landscape. The reality is far from what meets the naked eye. The number of restored blocks remains tiny, and most are located on the seafront or in some residential complexes. Furthermore, many of the materials used in the new houses are of poor quality, and residents complain of poor finishes. This is why the prevailing landscape remains that of a devastated city where those who remain survive in precarious conditions.

The supposed rebirth of this city has been financed primarily by companies from St. Petersburg. In an attempt to link Mariupol to Russia, a bus service between the two cities was created in early March, although, after a few days, it had to close because it hadn't sold a single ticket.

The issue of the territories "will be very difficult for us," Zelensky admitted in last Wednesday's call with Donald Trump. The American president has so far shown little willingness to defend Ukrainian sovereignty over these regions, and with this prospect in mind, Putin is rubbing his hands together. "We don't need anything from others, but we won't give up what's ours," he said recently. The Russian president is raising the stakes as he heads to the negotiating table, determined not to give an inch.