The territorial issue will be key in upcoming talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, when a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine will be discussed. Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine's territory, and Trump has said territorial changes would be a crucial element of any deal, Reuters reports.
Russia occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, and the U.S. president has said that a "territorial swap" and changes in territory will be crucial to any agreement.
Two sources familiar with the Russian perspective said on Saturday that Putin and Trump had discussed a proposal requiring Ukraine to fully withdraw troops from Ukrainian-controlled parts of eastern Donetsk region.
Any changes to Ukraine's territory would have to be settled in Ukraine through a referendum, according to the country's constitution.
"Questions about changing the territory of Ukraine shall be resolved exclusively through an all-Ukrainian referendum," Article 73 states.
The issue can be put to a referendum on a popular initiative if signatures of three million Ukrainian voters with the right to vote from at least two-thirds of the country's regions are collected, it says.
Ukraine, like its European allies, is categorically opposed to the idea of legally recognizing any Ukrainian territory as Russian. But it tacitly acknowledged that it would almost certainly have to accept some de facto territorial losses.
Zelensky said that talks to end the war must start from the current front line and cannot begin with Kiev withdrawing its troops from parts of its own sovereign territory that Russia does not control.
He said he had no mandate to give up the country’s territory and that plots of state land could not be traded as if they were his private property.
Zelensky also said that if Kiev withdrew its troops from the heavily fortified eastern Donetsk region, it would expose Ukraine to the threat of a Russian advance deeper into less-defended Ukrainian territory.
The US president has publicly criticized Zelensky for saying he could not violate the constitution by agreeing to cede territory.
"I was a little concerned about the fact that Zelensky was saying, "Well, I need to get constitutional approval." I mean, he has approval to start a war, to kill everyone, but he needs approval to do a land swap. Because there will be a land swap," he told the press on August 11.
According to polls, a clear majority of Ukrainians want a negotiated settlement, but they also oppose recognizing Ukrainian land as Russian.
The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology reported that a June opinion poll showed that 68% of respondents opposed the idea of officially recognizing "some parts" of the occupied lands as Russian, while 24% were open to it.
The same poll showed that 78% were against the idea of giving up land that Kiev troops still control.