Zelensky refuses land surrender as EU leaders warn Kyiv must be part of talks
Amidst ploy to end conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, Zelensky has warned that he is not ready to give up land to Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his gratitude to European nations for throwing weight behind him ahead of a planned meeting between the U. S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During a meeting on Friday in Alaska with Putin, President Trump revealed that the purpose of the meeting was to put an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia which has ongoing for more than three years.
On Saturday, statement by top EU leaders stressed that peace cannot be attained without Kyiv’s involvement came after the White House confirmed the US president was willing to grant Mr. Putin the one-on-one meeting Russia has long pushed for, and suggestions from Mr. Trump that a peace deal could include “some swapping of territories”.
This aroused fears and concern within the EU union, deliberating if Kyiv would be cowed to give up land or accede to other curs on its sovereignty.
Zelensky Refuses Land Surrender
According to a White House official who wanted his identity shielded, told joint press that President Trump remained interested to a trilateral summit with both countries at war with each other, but before that comes to be, he will have bilateral meeting as requested by Putin.
Trump said earlier that he would see Putin to discuss a way out even if the Russian president does not want to meet with Zelensky.
Trump Silent On Proposed Zelensky Meeting
Just five days away from Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U. S. president Donald Trump remains silent on whether to invite Ukraine’s Zelensky to the meeting.
As revealed by a White House spokesperson, it is confirmed that Trump is interested in the prospect of a trilateral meeting with the leaders of the two warring nations, but further details are yet to be disclosed.
Echoing the voice of EU leaders, Zelensky has called for Ukraine’s officials to be present at the talks.
Why Do Trump And Putin Want To Meet In Alaska?
In a confirmation gesture, the United States president Donald Trump said he would be meeting with the Russian president in Alaska on Friday to bring about peace between the two nations.
Way Trump Disclosed Proposed Meeting With Putin
Donald Trump announced his meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin by saying: “I’ll be meeting very shortly with President Putin. It would have been sooner but I guess there’s security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make. Otherwise I’d do it much quicker”
“He would, too. He’d like to meet as soon as possible, I agree with it.”
He added: “It’s a war that never should have happened. It would have never happened if I were president. There was no reason for it.”
Zelensky Refuses Land Surrender
Earlier this year, a meeting between Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump turned hostile as US vice president JD Vance accused the Ukrainian president of being “disrespectful.”
Reactions To Trump And Putin’s Proposed Meeting
United States
President Trump stated that a peace deal may include the “swapping of territories” between Russia and Ukraine.
“We’re going to get some back. We’re going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” he said.
Mr. Trump did not reveal whether Ukrainian president Volodymyr ZELENSKY would be invited to the meeting, but a source in the White House has said the president is open to it.
Russia
The meeting was confirmed in an online statement, by Kremlin and noted that the two leaders would “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis”.
“It seems entirely logical for our delegation to fly across the Bering Strait simply, and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska,” President Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said in a statement posted to the Kremlin’s news channel.
Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the planned summit between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin, would lead to “dead solutions” if the deal excluded Kyiv.
Zelensky Refuses Land Surrender
In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelensky said Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”
Yesterday, Zelensky also supported a joint statement from EU leaders which canvassed for Ukraine’s involvement in the meeting.
EU Leaders Reaffirm Support For Ukraine
Ahead of the meeting of Mr. Trump with Mr. Putin in Alaska, European Leaders told president Trump that: “Ukraine has the freedom of choice over its own destiny”
“We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.”
Lammy Hosts Vance Prior To Trump Meeting With Putin
David Lammy, Britain’s foreign secretary, hosted a meeting with the U. S. vice-president JD Vance and European nationals security advisers yesterday to talk the Russia-Ukraine war.
The meeting was said to have been requested by the US, also attended by Ukrainian officials. Lammy said that the “UK’s support for Ukraine remains ironclad as we continue working towards a just and lasting peace.”
The meeting was held at Chevening, the foreign secretary’s official country residence in Kent, where Vance and his family were staying.
What Will Russia Gain After Meeting With Trump?
The United States president Donald Trump has admitted that any peace deal signed over Russia’s war in Ukraine may end in “some swapping of territories.”
Zelensky Refuses Land Surrender
Since returning to office earlier this year for his second term, Trump has not so seriously appeared to claim possibility of Russia taking over Ukrainian territory to bring an end to the war.
However, the foreign allied are vocal against the idea, which has led Zelensky to demand Kyiv’s inclusion in the talks, stressing that the country “will not give their land to the occupier.”
Meanwhile, in a statement supported by Zelensky today, EU leaders say, “international borders must not be changed by force.”
Russian troops presently hold several large hectares of land both in eastern and southern Ukraine, including Crimea which was taken over in 2014.
In 2022, the country formally announced the annexation of four partially occupied regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is understood to have made only small advances inside Russian territory in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Ukraine’s Zelensky has stated that the country |values and fully supports” the joint statement issued by EU leaders yesterday as regard the planned meeting between Trump and Putin.
Also backed by both Britain’s Keir Starmer and French President Manuel Macron, who appeared to refute Trump’s claim that the peace dialogue may end in the “swapping of territories” between Russia and Ukraine.
While the statement embraced Mr. Trump’s move to end Russia-Ukraine conflict, it added that the decision on Ukraine’s future cannot be arrived at without the country’s involvement in the talks, and that “international borders must not be changed by force.”
Zelensky Refuses Land Surrender
Reacting via a post on X, president Zelensky wrote: “The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations.”
‘Ready to work as productively as possible for the sake of real peace’
“I am grateful for the support. We exchanged views on the diplomatic situation,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X reacting to France’s President Macron’s talks.
First Realistic Way To End War ─ Expert
Senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, Tatiana Stanovaya, described current move as “the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war”.
“At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while.
“And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine,” she said.
Her statement was drawn by President Trump’s decision to meet with Putin to discuss how to bring Russia’s war-in-Ukraine to an end.
Zelensky Refuses Land Surrender
