Kyiv Won't Give Up Land, Says Zelensky As US-Russia Confirm Summit
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the far-north US state of Alaska, near Russia, on August 15, to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite multiple warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of the negotiations.
Announcing the summit on Friday, Trump said that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.
"Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier," Zelensky said on social media hours later.
"Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing," he said, adding that the war "cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine".
Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.
Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.
Zelensky said Kyiv was "ready for real decisions that can bring peace" but said it should be a "dignified peace", without giving details.
The former KGB officer in power in Russia for over 25 years has also ruled out holding talks with Zelensky at this stage.
Ukraine's leader has been pushing to make it a three-way summit and has frequently said meeting Putin is the only way to make progress towards peace.
The summit in Alaska, which Russia sold to the United States in 1867, would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. This was just nine months before Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.
Zelensky said of the location that it is "very far away from this war, which is raging on our land, against our people".
The Kremlin said the choice was "logical" because the state close to the Arctic is on the border between the two countries, and this is where their "economic interests intersect".
Moscow has also invited Trump to pay a reciprocal visit to Russia later.
Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.
On Friday, Putin held a round of calls with allies, including China and India, in a diplomatic flurry ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.
The US president has earlier imposed an additional tariff on India for buying Russia's oil in a bid to nudge Moscow into talks. He also threatened to impose a similar tax on China, but so far has refrained from doing so.
Away from the talks, across the more than 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) frontline, Russia and Ukraine continued pouring dozens of drones on each other in an overnight exchange of attacks on Saturday.
As a result of that, a bus carrying civilians was hit in Ukraine's frontline city of Kherson, killing two people and wounding six.
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DW
25 minutes ago
- DW
In Ukraine's occupied Luhansk, many 'struggling to get by' – DW – 08/10/2025
Electricity and water are in short supply, and foods prices are rising. As Moscow pressures people in occupied eastern Ukraine to take on Russian citizenship, people in the Luhansk region spoke with DW about daily life. "They tell us Russia has done a lot for us. But all I notice is that I don't have enough money to live like I did before. Before, I didn't just have a good life, I had a wonderful life. Now I'm struggling to get by." Oksana* is from the settlement of Novoaidar, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of the regional capital, Luhansk, which has been occupied since 2014. Soon after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in the spring of 2022, the Russian army also captured Novoaidar, as well as the cities of Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk and Rubizhne, and took control of almost all of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. Since then, the population of Novoaidar has shrunk by a third. "Only older people have stayed. The young ones have fled to other parts of Ukraine, or abroad. The only place you see young people these days is in Luhansk," said Oksana. She told DW that her village is suffering because of the war. Her house is one of many that have been damaged by shelling, but the occupying authorities haven't provided any help for reconstruction. Before the Russian invasion, Oksana, who cares for her elderly father, sold her own homegrown food. Now she no longer has livestock, and she's not permitted to sell vegetables, either. To do this, she would have to register a company according to Russian law. "We just grow vegetables for ourselves now, and barter with our neighbors," she said. Oksana estimates that you need to earn at least 40,000 rubles a month (around €440/$500) to lead a normal life here. Many of the villagers — the postmen, for example — earn less than €200. The jobs on offer in local social media groups are mostly in either the service industry or construction. In nearby Sievierodonetsk, jobs for "workers with plumbing skills" are advertised at a salary of 120,000 rubles (€1,320). The Alchevsk iron and steel works also pays well. There are also often posts on social media promoting contracts with the Russian army, for which the pay is 216,000 rubles (€2,376). Like many residents of the occupied territories, Oksana's father still draws a Ukrainian pension. To do so, he has to use a VPN (virtual private network) to access the web portal of the Ukrainian pensions office, which has been blocked by the occupying forces. "Without this pension, you can't survive," said Oksana. Her father receives the equivalent of €61 a month. "That's enough to buy cheap food for a week," said Oksana. She has to supplement her father's minimum basic pension by using her family's savings. She complained that food prices have risen, and that there are only two shops left in Novoaidar. "In Luhansk, you can buy a dozen eggs for less than half the price," she said. That's why she makes the trip there every two weeks to go shopping. She's also been to Sievierodonetsk and Starobilsk. "But those cities are completely destroyed," she said. "On TV, they say that almost everything there has been rebuilt, but you still see burnt-out houses with no windows, doors or roofs." People there are still waiting for new windows and doors. The Ukrainian regional administration for Luhansk, which was evacuated to territory controlled by Kyiv, relies mainly on social media for information about the problems faced by people in the occupied zones. People post online about power cuts, and water being cut off. "In summer, it regularly happens in Sievierodonetsk that there's neither electricity nor water, at the same time," Oleksii Kharchenko, the governor of the Luhansk region, told DW. "The water supply has supposedly been turned off for repairs to electrical equipment, and the electricity supposedly because of work on the pumping stations." When there's no electricity, there's no internet. And according to Oksana, the cellphone provider Lugacom, which covers the occupied region of Luhansk, offers very poor reception. It's hard even to open Instant Messenger, she said. A lot of websites are blocked, as well: "You even have to use a VPN to get onto [messaging app] Viber." In this regard, at least, Kharchenko is able to offer some hope. "Right now, Telegram is testing a chatbot that's been developed primarily for communication with people living in the occupied territories," he said. Kharchenko reported that people also complain on social media that there aren't enough doctors, even in the cities. Oksana told DW that a group of doctors from the Russian cities of Krasnodar, St. Petersburg and Moscow come to Novoaidar once a year. "They treat people in a particular district for one month, and after that you have to see local doctors again. But when you go to the outpatient department, they say there aren't any doctors there. Your only option is to borrow money and pay to see a doctor privately," Oksana said. She also said that hospitals won't treat patients without Russian passports. Since the start of 2025, people who live in the occupied territories and who haven't taken Russian citizenship are considered by Russia to be either foreigners or stateless, said Kharchenko. "This means they're denied all social security benefits and allowances, and also the right to medical treatment," he added. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video But acquiring Russian citizenship also makes them eligible for conscription. "When it became apparent that most people were trying to avoid getting a Russian passport, not least in order to escape mobilization, the occupiers started to introduce more and more restrictions. They're creating conditions that force people to get a Russian passport," explained Kharchenko. For example, he said that, in March, the occupying authorities started confiscating the houses and apartments of people who had left Luhansk. "According to Russian law, housing that has been inventoried and declared 'not belonging to anyone' is transferred by the courts to communal ownership," he said. To make sure this didn't happen to her, Oksana had to obtain Russian papers for her house. Kharchenko said the new rules are another means of putting pressure on people in the occupied territories who reject Russian citizenship. Some are even returning to the occupied territories just to hold on to their properties. Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree stating that all those who do not have Russian citizenship must leave the occupied territories by September 10. In spite of this, Oksana intends to stay in Novoaidar and see what happens. "Why should I go begging somewhere else when I have everything here?" she said. "We're waiting for things to be like before. That's the attitude of most people here."
Local Germany
2 hours ago
- Local Germany
European leaders urge more 'pressure' on Russia ahead of Trump-Putin summit
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the US state of Alaska this Friday to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of negotiations. Announcing the summit last week, Trump said that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" sides, without elaborating. But President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Saturday that Ukraine won't surrender land to Russia to buy peace. "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier," he said on social media. "Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace," he added. Zelensky urged Ukraine's allies to take "clear steps" towards achieving a sustainable peace during a call with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer. European leaders issued a joint statement overnight Saturday to Sunday saying that "only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed". They welcomed Trump's efforts, saying they were ready to help diplomatically -- by maintaining support to Ukraine, as well as by upholding and imposing restrictive measures against Russia. "The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations", said the statement, signed by leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain, Finland and EU Commission chief Ursula Von Der Leyen, without giving more details. Advertisement They also said a resolution "must protect Ukraine's and Europe's vital security interests", including "the need for robust and credible security guarantees that enable Ukraine to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity". "The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine," they said. National security advisors from Kyiv's allies -- including the United States, EU nations and the UK -- gathered in Britain Saturday to align their views ahead of the Putin-Trump summit. French President Emmanuel Macron, following phone calls with Zelensky, Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said "the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukrainians" and that Europe also had to be involved in the negotiations. In his evening address Saturday, Zelensky stressed: "There must be an honest end to this war, and it is up to Russia to end the war it started." A 'dignified peace' Three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to bear fruit. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes. Putin, a former KGB officer in power in Russia for over 25 years, has ruled out holding talks with Zelensky at this stage. Ukraine's leader has been pushing for a three-way summit and argues that meeting Putin is the only way to make progress towards peace. The summit in Alaska, the far-north territory which Russia sold to the United States in 1867, would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. Nine months later, Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. Zelensky said of the location that it was "very far away from this war, which is raging on our land, against our people". The Kremlin said the choice was "logical" because the state close to the Arctic is on the border between the two countries, and this is where their "economic interests intersect". Advertisement Moscow has also invited Trump to pay a reciprocal visit to Russia later. Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January, but Trump has failed to broker peace in Ukraine as he promised he could. Fighting goes on Russia and Ukraine continued pouring dozens of drones onto each other's positions in an exchange of attacks in the early hours of Saturday. A bus carrying civilians was hit in Ukraine's frontline city of Kherson, killing two people and wounding 16. The Russian army claimed to have taken Yablonovka, another village in the Donetsk region, the site of the most intense fighting in the east and one of the five regions Putin says is part of Russia. In 2022, the Kremlin announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson -- despite not having full control over them. As a prerequisite to any peace settlement, Moscow demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of the regions and commit to being a neutral state, shun Western military support and be excluded from joining NATO. Kyiv said it would never recognise Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.
Int'l Business Times
8 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Armenians Caught Between Hope And Distrust After Accord With Azerbaijan
The streets were almost deserted in Yerevan Saturday because of the summer heat, but at shaded parks and fountains, Armenians struggled to make sense of what the accord signed a day earlier in Washington means for them. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, two Caucasian countries embroiled in a territorial conflict since the fall of the USSR, met Friday and signed a peace treaty under the watch of US President Donald Trump. In Yerevan, however, few of the people asked by AFP were enthusiastic. "It's a good thing that this document was signed because Armenia has no other choice," said Asatur Srapyan, an 81-year-old retiree. He believes Armenia hasn't achieved much with this draft agreement, but it's a step in the right direction. "We are very few in number, we don't have a powerful army, we don't have a powerful ally behind us, unlike Azerbaijan," he said. "This accord is a good opportunity for peace." Maro Huneyan, a 31-year-old aspiring diplomat, also considers the pact "acceptable", provided it does not contradict her country's constitution. "If Azerbaijan respects all the agreements, it's very important for us. But I'm not sure it will keep its promises and respect the points of the agreement," she added. But Anahit Eylasyan, 69, opposes the agreement and, more specifically, the plan to create a transit zone crossing Armenia to connect the Nakhchivan region to the rest of Azerbaijan. "We are effectively losing control of our territory. It's as if, in my own apartment, I had to ask a stranger if I could go from one room to another," she explains. She also hopes not to see Russia, an ally of Armenia despite recent tensions, expelled from the region." Anahit also criticizes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for "making decisions for everyone" and for his "endless concessions to Azerbaijan". "We got nothing in exchange, not our prisoners, nor our occupied lands, nothing. It's just a piece of paper to us," she fumes. Shavarsh Hovhannisyan, a 68-year-old construction engineer, agrees, saying the agreement "is just an administrative formality that brings nothing to Armenia." "We can't trust Azerbaijan," Hovhannisyan asserted, while accusing Pashinyan of having "turned his back" on Russia and Iran. "It's more of a surrender document than a peace treaty, while Trump only thinks about his image, the Nobel Prize." According to President Trump, Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed "to stop all fighting forever; open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations; and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity." For Olesya Vartanyan, an independent researcher specializing in the Caucasus, the Washington agreement "certainly brings greater stability and more guarantees for the months, if not years, to come." But given the long-lasting tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, "I fear that we will have to plan only for the very short term," she said.
