Ukrainian forces still control 2,550 square miles of the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas, an area roughly the size of Delaware. For many, including President Donald Trump, who met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday at the White House, that might seem like a small price to pay for ending a war that has lasted three and a half years and killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians.

After a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week, Trump appeared to shift his position on the end of the war, dropping his demand for an immediate ceasefire and telling European leaders he favored a plan that involves Ukraine ceding territory that has not yet been conquered by Russia. He has said publicly that a peace deal will require “land swapping,” though reports indicate Russia is only willing to “swap” small bits of territory in other regions.

While the details of what this would involve are still murky, Putin’s position at the Alaska summit was reportedly that Ukraine should give up the entirety of the regions that comprise the Donbas — Donetsk and Luhansk —meaning the Ukrainians would be withdrawing from their current positions. The front lines in two other regions Russia has claimed — Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — would be frozen.

It’s not clear exactly how much pressure Trump put on Zelenskyy to make this sacrifice when they met at the White House on Monday. Zelenskyy said that the issue of territorial concessions would be settled in a potential future three-way meeting, including Putin and cryptically thanked Trump “for the map,” suggesting the issue had been discussed in some detail. Zelenskyy was also asked by a Fox News reporter if he would be willing to “redraw the map” rather than sending thousands more Ukrainians to their deaths. Zelenskyy deflected the question. The Financial Times reported that Zelenskyy and the European leaders compared giving away the rest of Donetsk to Trump giving away eastern Florida, an analogy the US president was struck by.

But in fact, the concessions outlined in Russia’s latest proposal — as reported — could have far more profound implications for Ukraine’s security, and the globe’s, than the US administration appears to realize. It could lead to a more vulnerable, divided Ukraine as well as setting a precedent that legitimizes militaries seizing territory by force.

Why Ukraine won’t part with the Donbas without a fight

Russian troops or Russian-backed proxies have occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014, and the Russian government formally annexed the regions in 2022, despite the fact that it still did not control all of them. Russian forces currently occupy all but a sliver of Luhansk and........

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