In tense meeting, Trump told Zelensky to concede land, meet Putin’s demands

Brussels: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is rallying the support of his European partners after a bruising meeting last week with President Donald Trump, in which he was told to make concessions to end the war or risk facing destruction at the hands of Russia.

In a tense meeting at the White House, Trump tossed aside maps of the front line and urged Kyiv to concede its entire Donbas region to Russia to clinch a deal, according to people familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive diplomacy.

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last Friday (Saturday AEDT).Credit: AP

“He said [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will destroy you if you don’t agree now,” one of the people said. “Zelensky had his maps and everything, and he was explaining it to him but [Trump] wanted nothing to do with it.”

Trump listened but was not responsive to the Ukrainian message, the person said. “It was pretty much like ‘No, look guys, you can’t possibly win back any territory … There is nothing we can do to save you. You should try to give diplomacy another chance.’”

In remarks released on Monday, Zelensky said it was “very important” that the Europeans have “a unified position” with Kyiv and that they would “also address the United States in various formats.” He told reporters he planned to meet with European allies this week.

As European leaders issue proclamations of support for Zelensky, his White House disappointment is set to dominate diplomatic talks this week, including a European Union summit on Thursday.

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Just days after musing about giving Zelensky Tomahawk missiles to strike Russia, Trump’s latest swerve on the war appeared to stem from a call with Putin last week. Putin demanded that Kyiv surrender Donbas as a condition to end the war.

A European official said Trump moved from talk of long-range missiles before the call to land swaps in his meeting with Zelensky. “Now he was saying the US needs Tomahawks and doesn’t want to escalate.”

A European diplomat briefed on the White House exchange described it as a mess and said Trump also “went on and on” about “his grievances of not having gotten the Nobel Peace Prize”.

On the conflict, “the message was that Russia only wants Donbas and this is a good deal and Putin wants to end the war, and it can be done quickly”, the diplomat said.

Trump, however, emerged from the meeting with Zelensky calling for a ceasefire along the front line, a stance that the Ukrainian president has endorsed publicly, but the Kremlin has not.

Parts of the Trump-Zelensky meeting were originally reported by the Financial Times on Sunday.

Asked if he urged Zelensky to give up Donbas, Trump later said he hadn’t. “Let it be cut the way it is. … Leave it the way it is now,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

“They can negotiate something later on down the line,” he added. But for now, both sides of the conflict should “stop at the battle line – go home, stop fighting, stop killing people.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to questions on Monday about freezing the conflict along existing front lines, said the issue “has been raised repeatedly with various nuances during contacts between Russia and the US”. He said Russia’s position “remains unchanged.”

Putin told Trump during their call that Russian forces have “the strategic initiative” along the front lines, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov.

Trump’s decision to push Putin’s demands with Zelensky again quashed European hopes that Washington might come to Ukraine’s rescue or boost its leverage in talks. It also piles fresh pressure on Kyiv’s chief backers in Europe to maintain the flow of cash and weapons.

European diplomats have long suggested they acquiesced to the idea that Ukraine will have to concede land in any future US-brokered settlement by freezing the front line. But they have backed Zelensky by insisting that Kyiv would not voluntarily cede any territory to Moscow that it does not control militarily.

While Russian forces have taken much of Donbas, they have tried and failed to seize the entirety of the heavily fortified Donetsk region in that corner of eastern Ukraine in over a decade of fighting.

In his call with Trump, Putin suggested he could give up claims to parts of two other Ukrainian regions that Russia has not entirely conquered, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in exchange for full control of Donetsk, The Washington Post reported.

Zelensky said to journalists that he believes Putin “wants to show that he ‘won’ the war – and for that, he needs the administrative borders of Donbas”.

“But here’s the thing,” he added, “who says he won’t go further in a few years? Who can guarantee that?”

The European official said the White House visit was not as disastrous as an infamous Oval Office public shouting match early this year but that Zelensky, who later held a call with some European leaders, had left disappointed.

Zelensky warns that Putin could resume aggression in a few years, even if peace returns to Ukraine.Credit: AP

“None of us should put pressure on Zelensky when it comes to territorial concessions,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the meeting. “One thing is absolutely clear: Europe’s solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s aggression is today more important than ever before.”

The first person briefed on the meeting said it remained unclear what exactly had swayed Trump, after the president had talked of Ukraine retaking its full territory and expressed frustration with Putin over stalled negotiations. “He can flip back. You never know.”

The European diplomat, however, said it seemed that “Putin knew what he was doing and got through to Trump.” There are “concerns among Europeans” once again that “things are backsliding”, the diplomat said.

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For months, the Kremlin and European leaders have jostled for Trump’s ear, adjusting to his policy changes on the war and his ambition for a peace deal. Trump’s focus on the deal more than the details, has at times left all sides frustrated, while the president has voiced irritation with both Kyiv and Moscow throughout his efforts to stop the conflict.

Leaders of the EU’s 27 nations will deliberate this week on a response to Trump’s latest pivot and on ways to bolster Ukraine, including with a plan to use Russia’s frozen assets in the form of a “reparation loan” and with more sanctions against Moscow.

Yet agreement to tap into Russian frozen assets could still take time.

The plan, strongly condemned by Moscow, has met concern from Belgium, where much of the assets are held, and objections from Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orban.

Also on the European agenda is a possible Trump-Putin summit in the coming weeks.

After his call with Putin, Trump said the two could meet soon in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, much to the consternation of many EU leaders except Orban.

European foreign ministers Monday reiterated praise of Trump’s peacemaking attempts, but some voiced dismay at the idea of Putin visiting Hungary for the talks.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said there was no place for Putin “in any of our capitals”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the Russian leader’s visit to an EU member state would only make sense if it brings an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”

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