Zelenskyy outlines peace terms amid reports Putin gave Trump territory demand
The Ukrainian president has also called on his American counterpart to strengthen sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a three-way meeting.
US media is meanwhile reporting that Mr Putin told Mr Trump he was prepared to freeze most of the current battlefield front lines in exchange for Ukrainian territory.
Mr Zelenskyy will travel to Washington to meet Mr Trump on Monday, local time, after Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska failed to yield the ceasefire sought by the US president.
After the summit Mr Trump said a full peace deal was the necessary next step rather than a ceasefire deal "which often times don't hold up".
He also said it was now "up to President Zelenskyy to get it done".
Mr Trump also told told Fox News that "land swaps" were discussed with Mr Putin, which contradicts his earlier statements that he would leave those negotiations to the Ukrainians.
Mr Putin spelled out demands for Ukrainian territory during the Alaska talks, namely the Donbas region in the country's east, Reuters and multiple US outlets reported.
After a post-meeting phone call with Mr Trump, Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X that "a real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions".
"Killings must stop as soon as possible, the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the sky, as well as against our port infrastructure,"' he said.
Mr Zelenskyy said Russia must release Ukrainian prisoners and return abducted children, decisions about territory must not be made without Ukrainian involvement, and Ukraine must receive security guarantees with both US and European involvement.
"In my conversation with President Trump I said that sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war," Mr Zelenskyy said.
European leaders said their "Coalition of the Willing is ready to play an active role" in providing security guarantees.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Trump told European leaders he was open to US security guarantees. He had previously pushed back on such requests.
He also said Mr Putin had accepted that any peace deal would require Western troops in Ukraine, the Journal said, citing several European officials.
Mr Putin meanwhile told members of his administration that the Alaska meeting was "timely and very useful", according to a translation of a statement from the Kremlin.
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ABC News
39 minutes ago
- ABC News
Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin multiple wins in Alaska
The bizarre summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska should sway all but the most credulous doubters that the White House is more interested in friendly relations with Russia's dictator than achieving a lasting peace in Ukraine. An abridged program saw the two leaders swiftly conclude the meeting earlier than had been expected. They then heaped praise on one another at a press conference that didn't feature any questions from the press. Worryingly, Trump is still as unconcerned about handing Putin symbolic victories as he is unwilling to put any real pressure on the Russian leader. The venue itself was telling. Russia has long carped that Alaska, which it sold to the US in the 1860s, is rightfully still its territory. Prior to the meeting, Kremlin mouthpieces made much of Putin's team taking a "domestic flight" to Anchorage, recalling billboards that went up in Russia in 2022 proclaiming "Alaska is ours!" That wasn't helped by yet another Trump gaffe prior to the meeting when he said he would "go back to the United States" if he didn't like what he heard. When Putin's plane landed, US military personnel kneeled to fix a red carpet for the Russian president to walk across — as a respected leader, rather than an indicted war criminal. Putin was then invited to ride along with Trump in his limousine. Beyond the optics, Trump handed Putin a number of other wins that will shore up his support at home and reinforce to the world that US-Russia relations have been normalised. A summit is typically offered as a favour — an indication of an earnest desire to improve relations. By inviting him to Alaska, Trump gave Putin a stage to meet the American president as an equal. There was no criticism of Russia's appalling human rights abuses, its increasingly violent attempts to fragment the transatlantic alliance, or its desire to reshape its fortunes by conquest. Instead, Trump sought again to portray Putin and himself as victims. He complained that both had been forced to "put up with the 'Russia, Russia, Russia' hoax" that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. He then gifted Putin yet another win, putting the onus for accepting Russian terms to end the war in Ukraine back onto the Ukrainian government and Europe, by observing "it's ultimately up to them". Putin got exactly what he could have hoped for. Aside from the photo ops, he framed any solution to the conflict around the "root causes" — code for NATO being to blame rather than Putin's unprovoked war of imperial aggression. He also dodged any prospect of vaguely threatened US sanctions, with Trump returning to his familiar refrain of needing "two weeks" to think about them again. And then, having pocketed both a symbolic and diplomatic bonanza, Putin promptly skipped lunch and flew home, presumably also accompanied by the bald-headed American eagle ornament that Trump had presented to him. After Trump's subsequent call with European leaders to brief them on the summit, details about a peace proposal began to leak out. Putin is reportedly prepared to fix the front lines as they stand in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, provided Kyiv agrees to cede all of Luhansk and Donetsk, including territory Russia doesn't currently hold. There would be no immediate ceasefire (which is Europe's and Ukraine's preference), but a move towards a permanent peace, which aligns with the Kremlin's interests. Make no mistake: this is a thinly disguised trap. It amounts to little more than Putin and Trump slinging a dead cat at Ukraine and Europe, then blaming them as laggards and warmongers when they object. For one thing, Ukraine still controls a sizeable portion of Donetsk. Giving up Donetsk and Luhansk would not only cede coal and mineral reserves to Moscow, but also require abandoning vital defensive positions that Russian forces have been unable to crack for years. It would also position Russia to launch potential future incursions, opening the way to Dnipro to the west and Kharkiv to the north. Trump's apparent backing for Russia's demands that Ukraine cede territory for peace — which NATO's European members reject — means Putin is succeeding in further fracturing the transatlantic partnership. There was also little mention of who would secure the peace, or how Ukraine can be reassured Putin will not simply use the breathing space to rearm and try again. Given the Kremlin has opposed NATO membership for Ukraine, would it really agree to European forces securing the new line of control? Or American ones? Would Ukraine be permitted to rearm, and to what extent? And, even in the event of a firmer US line in a future post-Trump era, Putin will still have achieved a land grab that would be impossible to undo. That, in turn, reinforces the message that conquest pays off. One apparently brighter note for Ukraine is the hint the US is prepared to offer it a "non-NATO" security guarantee. But that should also be viewed with caution. The Trump administration has already expressed public ambivalence about US commitments to defend Europe via NATO's Article 5, which has called its credibility as an ally into question. Would the US really fight for Ukraine if there were a future Russian invasion? To their credit, European leaders have responded firmly to Trump's dealings with Putin. They have welcomed the attempt to resolve the conflict, but told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky they will continue to back him if the deal is unacceptable. Zelensky, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has already rejected the notion of ceding the Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk) to Russia. But Europe will have to face the reality that not only must it do more, but it must also provide sustained leadership on security issues, rather than just reacting to repeated crises. Ultimately, the Alaska summit shows that peace in Ukraine is only part of the broader picture for the Trump administration, which is dedicated to achieving warmer ties with Moscow, if not outright alignment with it. In that sense, it matters little to Trump how peace is attained in Ukraine, or how long it lasts. What's important is he receives credit for it, if not the Nobel Peace Prize he craves. And while Trump's vision of splitting Russia away from China is a fantasy, it is nonetheless one he has decided to entertain. That, in turn, compels America's European partners to respond accordingly. Already there is plenty of evidence that having failed to win a trade war with China, the Trump administration is now choosing to feast on America's allies instead. We see this in its fixation with tariffs, its bizarre desire to punish India and Japan, and the trashing of America's soft power. Even more sobering, Trump's diplomatic forays continue to see him treated as sport by authoritarian leaders. That, in turn, provides a broader lesson for America's friends and partners: their future security may well rest on America's good offices, but it is foolish to assume that automatically places their fortunes above the whims of the powerful. Matthew Sussex is an associate professor at the Griffith Asia Institute and a fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University. This piece first appeared on The Conversation.
SBS Australia
39 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
'We hate his guts': Ukraine's ambassador calls on Australia to not 'reward Russia'
A senior Ukranian diplomat has described the Russian president as a "war criminal", telling SBS World News, "we hate his guts", as Russia continues its assault on Ukraine. Russia holds several Ukrainian territories, which it has seized since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, and appears unlikely to relinquish them in ongoing negotiations. The fate of that Ukrainian land has been a sticking point in past peace talks, but now US President Donald Trump is hoping to shift the tide as he meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday (10 pm AEST). There are hopes the talks could help secure a peace deal and end the war in Ukraine, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has been described as untrustworthy by Ukraine's ambassador to Australia. "We haven't seen anything from Russia that Russians were actually serious about ending this war; they've actually stepped up their attacks," Vasyl Myroshnychenko said. "They have brought in more people to Ukraine, and they have sent more missiles and drones to destroy and kill more Ukrainians, so that's what we have seen. "Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, he's indicted by the International Criminal Court and we hate the guts of him." 'Remain hopeful' for peace talks The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy follows a peace summit last week hosted by the US between Trump and Putin. The meeting in Alaska excluded Ukrainian leaders and, while failing to reach a deal, reportedly included discussions of Ukraine potentially giving up land to Russia. Myroshnychenko said he was hopeful for a positive outcome, but warned ceding Ukrainian land to Russia would be a "reward" for aggression. "President Trump gave a call to Zelenskyy and to the European leaders and he briefed them on the substance of the negotiations. We have to remain hopeful at this stage.," he said. "What we need to avoid — and I think Australia understands it, Americans should understand it — we can't reward Russia for aggression." Members of the Australian Ukrainian community have expressed outrage over the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Kateryna Argyrou, the chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, said any peace talks must involve Ukraine. "At the Alaska summit, it was revolting to see President Trump lay out the red carpet, applaud and embrace Vladimir Putin, a murderous, indicted war criminal who has been waging war against the Ukrainians for more than a decade," she told SBS News. She said the stakes "could not be higher" for the meeting. "Ukraine deserves more than symbolic gestures — it deserves concrete commitments to its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and long-term security," she said. "We are deeply worried by reports suggesting that the Trump administration has indicated territorial concessions may be on the table. Any proposal that legitimises aggression or redraws borders under duress is unacceptable. Peace must not come at the cost of justice." Zelenskyy won't be alone this time European leaders will be joining the key meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump at the White House. It will be attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as well as leaders from the UK, France, Finland, and Germany. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged a lack of trust between Putin and other world leaders, saying Ukraine should be a part of negotiations. "We know that Mr Putin has designs on not just Ukraine. The concern is certainly there, and there is certainly a lack of trust between Mr Putin and European and other leaders of democracies," he told Sky News on Monday. "We stand with Ukraine, we want to see peace in the region. Ukraine must, of course, not have a solution imposed on it. They need to be a part of those negotiations."
AU Financial Review
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- AU Financial Review
Predicting winners and losers in the new world order
Vladimir Putin's encounter with Donald Trump in Anchorage summons bad memories of past summits in Munich or Yalta, in which the destiny of smaller Eastern European nations was decided by greater powers without their participation. But a fictional model from the postwar era seems more prophetic. George Orwell's 1984, written in 1948, tells of a world divided into three great powers. They are:
