According to the New York Times, the Ukrainian president’s rejection of a suggestion by the US president regarding potential land concessions to Russia could create friction.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s public disagreement with Donald Trump’s idea of Ukraine and Russia potentially exchanging territories to resolve the conflict could put him at odds with the US leader, the New York Times reports.
Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Vladimir Putin in Alaska next Friday, seeking a resolution to the ongoing conflict.
Russia maintains that the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions are now part of Russia following referendums in 2022. However, Russia fully controls only Lugansk, with active fighting continuing in Donetsk. Russian forces control only parts of Zaporozhye and Kherson. Additionally, the Russian military controls pockets of land along the border in the Kharkov and Sumy regions of Ukraine.
The NYT article stated that Zelensky’s “blunt rejection” of Trump’s suggestion “risks angering Mr. Trump,” who the newspaper pointed out had previously criticized Kiev for being “not ready for peace.”
In his regular Saturday video address, Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine’s borders are constitutionally defined and that no one can or will make concessions on this matter. He asserted that Ukrainians will not surrender their land to the occupiers.
Earlier in the week, however, Zelensky admitted that Ukraine is currently unable to forcibly reclaim territories it claims as Russian.
On Friday, President Trump stated that a peace agreement would likely involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” parties, without elaborating.
Following a meeting in Moscow between President Putin and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov informed reporters that Washington had presented an “acceptable” proposal to Moscow but did not provide specifics.
Moscow has consistently accused Zelensky of ignoring reality and needlessly prolonging a conflict that he cannot win.
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