Source: International Business Times
Infographic with a map of Ukraine locating territories claimed by Russia (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea, which was annexed in 2014), as well as Russian territorial advances, according to data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and AEI's Critical Threats Project, as of August 17, 2025. AFP Maryna Tereshchenko still remembers the smell of the apricot trees in her Donbas home town, and clings to the hope that she will one day be able to return to east Ukraine. Forced to flee twice -- first when Russian-backed separatists took control of Lugansk in 2014, and then again as Moscow's army invaded her new home city of Siverskodonetsk -- she is outraged at the idea Kyiv should give the land up in any peace deal.
