Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has weighed in on the “Donnyland” trend sweeping social media, following a New York Times report suggesting that negotiators might name a region after Donald Trump in a bid to bolster U.S. backing for the war-torn nation.
“The main thing is that Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast remain Ukraine — as long as it’s not ‘Putinland.’ That is the most important thing,” Zelensky told reporters on April 22, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The concept of renaming part of Ukrainian territory “Donnyland” was previously floated during negotiations tied to the ongoing conflict with Russia, with the intention of swaying political support from Washington. Ukrainian negotiators raised the idea during discussions over the future of the Donbas region, with the ultimate aim of strengthening U.S. commitment to Ukraine.
Ukraine is actively pursuing direct negotiations between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Kyiv’s top diplomat, positioning a potential summit as a means to reinvigorate U.S.-led initiatives to end Russia’s more than four-year invasion of its neighbor.
At the same time, a Ukrainian drone strike deep within Russian territory hit a residential structure, resulting in the deaths of a woman and a child, Russian authorities reported Wednesday.
Ukraine has requested Turkey’s assistance in organizing high-level discussions and has contacted other nations as possible host locations, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha revealed, noting that Ukraine would accept any setting outside Russia and Belarus.
“We are … advocating for a (summit) meeting now to bring new momentum to diplomacy,” Sybiha told reporters on Tuesday. His remarks were embargoed until Wednesday.
U.S.-brokered negotiations over the past year between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv have yielded minimal progress on critical matters, including the status of four Ukrainian regions Moscow is attempting to seize but does not entirely control. With Washington’s focus now consumed by the Iran war, the discussions have stalled.
Zelenskyy has agreed to an unconditional ceasefire called for by U.S. President Donald Trump, but Putin has declined. Analysts suggest Putin believes time favors his position, anticipating that Western military and financial backing will diminish and that Ukraine’s resistance will ultimately crumble.
In the meantime, a brutal war of attrition persists along the approximately 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line that winds through eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. Western officials and analysts assert Russia is experiencing several tens of thousands of battlefield casualties each month, drawing parallels to the devastation of World War I.