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London: Peace talks over Ukraine are at risk of collapse in a deepening dispute over whether to cede land to Russia to end the war, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushes back at White House pressure to submit to the terms.
Zelensky held out against the Russian demands for the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine in a forceful statement of his nation’s sovereignty, while European leaders strongly backed him in meetings in London and Brussels.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street in London on Monday. Credit: AP
The move appears to put the Ukrainian leader at odds with Donald Trump over the terms of a final deal, just as the US president tweeted a news article that said he was sidelining “impotent Europeans” in the negotiations.
Russian forces have made slow gains in the Donbas in recent weeks and are seeking to make a formal claim to the entire region in a potential peace deal, as well as securing other land and achieving formal recognition of the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
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Zelensky denounced those demands in comments to the media after he held talks in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Of course, Russia insists that we give up territories,” he said.
“We, of course, do not want to give anything away. That is exactly what we are fighting for.”
“The Americans today are looking for a compromise. I’ll be frank.”
The New York Times said Zelensky made the remarks in an online chat with journalists. The Washington Post reported the remarks as an “unequivocal declaration” that Ukraine would not surrender land.
“Under our laws, under international law – and under moral law – we have no right to give anything away,” Zelensky said, according to The Post.
Zelensky has often argued that he could not cede land under the Constitution and has said many times that giving up the territory would reward aggression by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent forces into Donbas in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Ukraine has made no headway in its military attempts to reclaim the territory, however, and is in danger of losing control of towns such as Pokrovsk, where Russian forces have moved through the streets.
Further Russian gains would put Ukrainian forces under severe pressure in the “fortress belt” cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, heightening the danger for large swatches of eastern Ukraine.
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Trump’s personal envoy in the peace negotiations, Steve Witkoff, included the transfer of the Donbas, Crimea and other regions to Russia as part of a 28-point peace plan discussed with Russian counterparts last month.
Zelensky and the European leaders rejected the draft plan but have not released an agreed alternative, leading to weeks of conjecture about whether the Russian territorial demands might be part of the ultimate agreement.
Ukrainians fear that a ceasefire that gives Russia the Donbas would set the scene for a subsequent war in which Putin would seek to conquer most of Ukraine including its capital, Kyiv.
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