Zelensky rejects territorial concessions as Trump plans meeting with Putin
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday reaffirmed that Ukrainians will not cede their land to Russia. He did so following the announcement that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump will discuss the war in Ukraine in Alaska next week.
On Friday, Trump reported that any truce between Russia and Ukraine would involve a swap of territories. "There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both," he said, while hosting a peace summit between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the White House.
Russia would retain captured territories in Ukraine, Bloomberg news agency reported on the basis of insiders. US and Russian officials are working on an agreement, according to the sources, and Trump will meet Putin in Alaska on Friday 15 August.
Despite the upcoming bilateral meeting, the US still has to convince Ukraine and European allies of the deal. Putin is demanding that Ukraine cede the entire eastern Donbas to Russia, as well as Crimea, which Russia annexed illegally in 2014.
"Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier"
That is not an option for Ukraine, Zelensky reiterated on social media on Saturday morning. "Of course, we will not reward Russia for what it has perpetrated," he said. "Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier."
The Ukrainian president also warned against taking decisions without the involvement of his country, saying that "any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace".
PHOTO © Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP
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