Zelensky says Russia’s territorial demands dropped from peace talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that the so-called "Anchorage agreements" — Russia's demands for recognition of its sovereignty over occupied Ukrainian territories — have been pushed off the peace negotiation agenda. Speaking at a meeting with the Ukrainian community in New York on Wednesday, Zelensky credited Ukraine's armed forces with playing the decisive role in shifting the terms of the talks.kyivpost+1

"We control the situation on the battlefield today. It's hard for us, but the Russians aren't making any major advances. Where they are advancing, Russia is paying a very high price in human lives — hundreds, thousands of them," Zelensky said.meduza

What Were the Anchorage Agreements?

The term "spirit of Anchorage" emerged after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on August 15, 2025. Russian officials subsequently used the phrase to describe what they said were agreements reached at that summit, though the proposals were never publicly set out in an agreed document.kyivpost+1

According to Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian president's office, Russia's interpretation of the Anchorage terms envisaged recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, alongside Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — a formula Zelensky referred to as "3+2". The talks have also moved away from discussions of Ukrainian neutrality, Zelensky said.meduza+1

Competing Narratives

Zelensky credited U.S. negotiators with helping shift the discussions but said the battlefield situation was the primary factor. Earlier this month, British national security adviser Jonathan Powell echoed this assessment, saying at a conference in Kyiv that the "Anchorage compromise" was finished and that Moscow was no longer claiming Washington had agreed Ukraine should surrender territory.kyivpost

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has offered a starkly different account. He previously claimed the war could have ended a year ago had the U.S. and Europe not abandoned what he described as the Alaska agreements. "If the Americans had not backed away from the Anchorage agreements, if Europe had not derailed those agreements, we would have been living without war for a year already," Lavrov said. In February 2026, Lavrov acknowledged that "the spirit of Anchorage is evaporating," signaling a shift in Russia's own assessment of the talks.meduza+1

What Comes Next

Zelensky warned that Putin's ambitions extend beyond the Donbas, saying Kyiv sees Moscow's ultimate goal as bringing all of Ukraine under its control — even if some U.S. officials believe Russia would stop at the eastern regions. The remarks underscore the distance that remains between the two sides as international efforts to broker a settlement continue.kyivpost