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KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 percent of the Donetsk region that it controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the leader categorically rejected.
Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine would not withdraw from territories it controls, saying that would be unconstitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.
He said diplomatic discussions led by the US focusing on ending the war have not touched on security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian aggression and that meeting formats currently being discussed do not include Europe’s participation, both key demands of Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russian forces on the ground have been closing in on a key territorial grab around the city of Pokrovsk.
Zelensky said the necessity of territorial concessions was conveyed to him by US officials ahead of a summit Friday between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in further meetings at the level of national security officials.
It remained unclear whether Ukraine would take part in the Friday summit. European Union leaders also have been sidelined from the meeting, and they appealed to Trump on Tuesday to protect their interests.
Zelensky says Ukraine will not withdraw from the Donbas
Zelensky said Putin wants the remaining 9,000 square kilometers (3,500 square miles) of Donetsk under Kyiv’s control, where the war’s toughest battles are grinding on, as part of a ceasefire plan, in a press briefing on Tuesday in Kyiv.
Doing so would hand Russia almost the entirety of the Donbas, a region comprising Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland that Putin has long coveted.
Zelensky learned of Russia’s position after holding a call with Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff, after the latter’s bilateral meeting with Putin. Witkoff told Zelensky that Russia was ready to end the war and that there should be territorial concessions from both sides. Some European partners were also part of the call.
“And that, probably, Putin wants us to leave Donbas. That is, it didn’t sound like America wants us to leave,” he said, recounting the call.
Zelensky reiterated that withdrawing from Ukraine-controlled territory was out of the question, especially as the question of security guarantees for Ukraine, were not being discussed.
“We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part — our territories are illegally occupied,” Zelensky told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. “Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive.”
Zelensky said this is what occurred in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula.
Seeking Trump’s ear before the summit
Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year.
The US president has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.
The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia’s energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favorable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.
Referring to the format for ceasefire talks, Zelensky said on Tuesday that the US proposed a bilateral meeting, between the US and Russia, and then a trilateral meeting that would include Ukraine. Zelensky said the presence of Europe was important for Kyiv because these were the only partners offering security guarantees, including funding the Ukrainian army.
European countries’ overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.
Their leaders said Tuesday they “welcome the efforts of President Trump toward ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” But, they underlined, “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine” and “international borders must not be changed by force.”
The Europeans on Wednesday will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine’s cause at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part but did say “I’m going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting with Putin.
Russia holds shaky control over four of the country’s regions, two in the country’s east and two in the south.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelensky’s office, said anything short of Russia’s strategic defeat would mean that any ceasefire deal would be on Moscow’s terms, erode international law and send a dangerous signal to the world.
A ‘profoundly alarming moment for Europe’
Trump’s seemingly public rehabilitation of Putin — a pariah in most of Europe — has unnerved Ukraine’s backers.
The summit in Alaska is a “profoundly alarming moment for Europe,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
According to Gould-Davies, Putin might persuade Trump to try to end the war by “accepting Russian sovereignty” over parts of Ukraine, even beyond areas that it currently occupies. Trump also could ease or lift sanctions which are causing “chronic pain” to the Russian economy.
That would provoke a “really serious split in the transatlantic alliance,” he said.
The war isn’t about Russia’s territorial expansion but about Putin’s goal of subordinating Ukraine, which would create the opportunity to threaten other parts of Europe, Gould-Davies said.
It was unclear whether the Europeans also were unsettled by Trump mistakenly saying twice he would be traveling to Russia on Friday to meet Putin. The summit is taking place in the US state of Alaska, which was colonized by Russia in the 18th century until Czar Alexander II sold it to the US in 1867.
Tuesday’s European joint statement was meant to be a demonstration of unity. But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is Putin’s closest ally in Europe and has tried to block EU support for Ukraine, was the only one of the bloc’s 27 leaders who refused to endorse it.
Russia closes in on Pokrovsk
Russia appeared closer to taking an important city in the Donetsk region, Pokrovsk.
Military analysts using open-source information to monitor the battles said the next 24-48 hours could be critical. Losing Pokrovsk would hand Russia an important victory ahead of the summit. It also would complicate Ukrainian supply lines to the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has focused the bulk of military efforts.
“A lot will depend on availability, quantity and quality of Ukrainian reserves,” Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, wrote on social media late Monday.
Ukraine’s military said its forces are fending off Russian infantry units trying to infiltrate their defensive positions in the Donetsk region. The region’s Ukrainian military command on social media Monday acknowledged that the situation remains “difficult, unpleasant and dynamic.”
Elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian missile attack on a military training facility left one soldier dead and 11 others wounded, the Ukrainian Ground Forces posted on social media.