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Witkoff appeared to be referring to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in eastern Ukraine, much of which are under Russian military occupation after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 with the aim of taking control of the whole country.

Ukrainian officials reject this, but Moscow says that at the very least it wants to fully capture four Ukrainian regions it partly controls - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - in addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

Maria feels it is important for him to not feel the casualties were in vain, and remains hopeful that the Russian-held parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk will one day be returned.

The five regions - or oblasts - are Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea.

Donbas refers to an industrial region in the east that includes much of Luhansk and Donetsk.