Which key pieces of infrastructure could be part of Ukraine ceasefire deal?
Donald Trump has said he will speak to Vladimir Putin about "land and power plants" in a bid to end the war in Ukraine. Here we look at key demands from both sides, and what infrastructure could become part of the proposed ceasefire deal.
Thursday 20 March 2025 11:06, UK
Donald Trump has said "land and power plants" are the focus of ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia.
The US president has spoken to both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr ZelenAG百家乐在线官网y this week, in which both sides appear to have agreed to a limited ceasefire.
Mr Putin agreed to an immediate 30-day pause in strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. But despite agreeing, it remains unknown if the ceasefire has actually been implemented.
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While the White House said "energy and infrastructure" would be covered, the Kremlin said the agreement referred more narrowly to "energy infrastructure". Both Ukraine and Russia have also already accused the other of breaking the pledge.
Sky News has pinpointed the locations of several Russian strikes which happened overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday - a day after Mr Trump and Mr Putin's call - in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Sumy oblasts. Downed Russian drones were also found on the outskirts of Kyiv.
The map below shows where strikes verified by Sky News occurred, and where major energy facilities are in those areas. The blue pins show where Russian strikes hit, and the yellow pins show major Ukrainian energy facilities.
So far, the ceasefire proposal makes no mention of what types of concessions both sides would have to make as part of a longer-term peace deal.
Mr Trump told reporters earlier this week that he has already spoken to both sides about "dividing up certain assets".
But what have Ukraine and Russia said about territory, and what key infrastructure could be involved in a ceasefire deal?
What are Ukraine's territorial demands?
Ukraine has previously called for Russia to return occupied lands, while the US has suggested Kyiv might have to cede territory.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr ZelenAG百家乐在线官网y said after a meeting with officials in Saudi Arabia last week that territory will be the "most difficult" issue after a ceasefire is agreed.
Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, said over the weekend that Kyiv will receive unspecified security guarantees in exchange for unspecified territorial concessions.
He also stated that the US is considering "the reality of the situation on the ground" in diplomatic talks when discussing an end to the war in Ukraine, a phrase often heard coming from the Kremlin.
What are Russia's territorial demands?
Russian forces control nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory and have steadily continued their advance in certain areas in recent months.
As part of a long-lasting peace agreement, Mr Putin has consistently demanded the surrender of four Ukrainian regions his forces do not even completely control.
Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson are all claimed as Russian territory by Moscow - which declared it had annexed them in September 2022 in a move that has been recognised by only Syria and North Korea and rejected widely by the international community.
On top of that, while almost all the Luhansk region is under Russian control, Ukraine still holds significant parts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions.
Last year, Mr Putin listed Kyiv's withdrawal of troops from all four regions as one of the demands for peace.
In an interview with Russian media outlet, Izvestia, on Monday, Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko made no reference to the ceasefire deal, but said any long-lasting peace treaty on Ukraine must meet Moscow's demands.
"We will demand that ironclad security guarantees become part of this agreement, he was cited as saying.
"Part of these guarantees should be the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of NATO countries to accept it into the
alliance."
What power plants will likely be discussed?
Mr Trump said he planned to speak to Mr Putin about power plants as part of the proposed ceasefire deal, but stopped short of saying specifically which facilities he would speak about - the country currently operates four nuclear power plants.
It is likely he was speaking about the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia facility in southern Ukraine, Europe's largest nuclear plant.
The plant has been controlled by Russian forces since March 2022.
Since then, both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of attacking it - leading to UN body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, frequently expressing concern about the plant amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.
After a phone call with Mr ZelenAG百家乐在线官网y on 19 March, Mr Trump went even further to suggest the US could take over running Ukraine's nuclear power plants as a form of security guarantee.
He said he believes that US workers on the ground in Ukraine would provide an adequate guarantee of security against further Russian attacks under any peace deal - without the need for US troops.
Mr Trump's energy secretary Chris Wright, added that the prospect of the US running nuclear plants was "no problem" and "we can do that".
The Zaporizhzhia facility features six nuclear reactors capable of generating around 1,000 megawatts of electricity each.
As one of the 10 largest nuclear power stations in the world, the plant, at one point, generated nearly half of Ukraine's nuclear power and more than 20% of the electricity generated in the country.
What other key infrastructure could be discussed?
Military analyst Michael Clarke says as well as the power plant in Zaporizhzhia, other key infrastructure that could be discussed in a ceasefire includes the Nova Kakhovka dam.
The 98ft (30m) tall and 3.2km (2 mile) long dam, which sits on the Dnipro River, was blown up in 2023.
It once held a giant reservoir that supplied water to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and the Crimean peninsula - which Russia claims to have annexed in 2014.
Its destruction led to widespread flooding, and the infrastructure has still not been rebuilt.
Professor Clarke says Moscow may want control of the dam as it helps towards its main goal of gaining as much control of Ukraine as possible - a way to weaken it and make it a non-viable state, he adds.
Also under potential discussion could be infrastructure and crossings along the Oskil River, which winds into Ukraine's Kharkiv region from Russia, Professor Clarke says.
Russian forces quickly crossed to the western bank of the river when they invaded back in 2022.
They were met with resistance by Ukrainian forces, but have recently ramped up attempts to transfer military equipment across the river, Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for the Khortytsia operational and strategic group of forces, was cited as saying by Ukrinform on Monday.
Other key infrastructure along the Dnipro and the water supply from Kherson into Crimea, could also potentially be brought up by Russia, Professor Clarke adds.
He says as Mr Putin wants to delay a ceasefire as much as possible "arguing about these details strings out the process before he is forced to agree a deal".
How is Trump involved?
Mr Trump has repeatedly said US and Ukraine have been discussing land that would be kept and lost in a final ceasefire agreement.
During a meeting with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte earlier this month, he also mentioned the Zaporizhzhia power plant, saying that figuring out who was going to get the power plant was "not an easy process".
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Steve Witkoff, who has led the US envoy to Moscow to discuss the ceasefire deal, told CBS News on Sunday that both land and the power plant have to be "dealt with".
"There's so many elements to the implementation of a ceasefire here," he said.
Read more:
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Asked how involved Mr Trump will actually be in discussions, Professor Clarke says he will have no direct involvement, but will eventually be shown a "scorecard" by his officials, that lays out the best deal they can get with the Russians.
"The likelihood is that it won't be good enough and then it will be up to him to make a big decision," Professor Clarke explains.
"Either walk away and put the Russians under pressure to come back to negotiations, or agree a deal that's far more favourable to Russia and bad for Ukraine than US officials ever envisaged."
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Professor Clarke says even if Washington recognises Ukrainian land as Russia's own sovereign territory, Europe will not agree to do so.
"They will never recognise that because it's strictly illegal," he says, but adds the rest of the world will see Moscow as the victor in the war if it can emerge from the conflict with territory and an easing of tensions with the US.
"If he [Mr Putin] gets sanctions partially lifted by the US and a strategic partnership with Washington, which is what the Trump administration seems to want, then the rest of the world, which has been waiting to see what happens in Ukraine since the very beginning of this war, will sit back and say Putin has won."