Zelenskyy refused to cede Donbas in conversation with Trump and European leaders – media
Kyiv • UNN
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Donald Trump's proposal to transfer Donetsk Oblast to freeze the front. Trump believes Ukraine should make a deal with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a conversation with US President Donald Trump and European leaders, rejected a "proposal" to cede the entire Donetsk region in order to freeze most of the front lines, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
Details
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big country, and they are not," after holding a summit where Vladimir Putin reportedly demanded more Ukrainian lands.
During a subsequent briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a source familiar with the discussion cited Trump as suggesting to freeze most of the front lines if Kyiv's forces ceded the entire Donetsk region, an industrial area that is one of Moscow's main targets.
According to the source, Zelenskyy rejected this demand. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of the Donetsk region, which it first entered in 2014.
Trump also said he agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without a prior ceasefire, which Ukraine and its European allies, who had until then enjoyed US support, had demanded.
Zelenskyy said he would meet Trump in Washington on Monday, while Kyiv's European allies welcomed Trump's efforts but pledged to support Ukraine and strengthen sanctions against Russia. The source said European leaders were also invited to participate in the talks on Monday.
Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday, the first US-Russia summit since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, lasted only three hours.
Recall
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed a lengthy conversation with US President Donald Trump following the Alaska summit, indicating that Ukraine confirms it is ready to work as productively as possible for peace and supports a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US, and Russia, and that he is going to talks with Trump in Washington on Monday.