Inside Ukraine ‘fortress belt’ Putin is demanding in return for peace

Matthew Savill, of the London-based Rusi think-tank, said talk of land exchanges could be seen as “a calculated insult to the Ukrainians” as all of the land being discussed is Ukrainian. He said ceding the fortress belt would force hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. It would also mean Russian forces move 50 miles east and leave Ukraine’s defenders in new positions that are harder to defend. And it would gift Russia a launchpad for further assaults into neighbouring Kharkiv and Dnipro oblasts.