Zelenskyy rejects ceding land as European leaders back Ukraine
"We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force,' European leaders said Saturday in a joint statement. "The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.'
The statement was backed by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Finland.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that he'll meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, with the apparent exclusion of Zelenskyy from talks aimed at ending Russia's invasion of its neighbor, now halfway through a fourth year.
Zelenskyy's comments were his first response to news of that meeting, as well as reports that talks between Washington and Moscow center around a deal that would lock in Russia's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, according to people familiar with the matter.
That includes a demand by Putin that Ukraine cede Crimea, which Kremlin forces illegally annexed in 2014, as well as its entire eastern Donbas area. Such an outcome would require Zelenskyy to withdraw troops from parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions still held by Kyiv.
A woman carries dogs as she flees her apartment block following a Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 24. |
David Guttenfelder / The New York Times
National security advisers from Europe, Ukraine and the U.S. met in the U.K. and made significant progress toward the aim of ending the fighting during hours of talks on Saturday, according to a U.S. official who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. The talks followed an earlier call between Zelenskyy and Starmer, and a flurry of diplomacy involving Zelenskyy and other European leaders.
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance co-hosted the meeting at Chevening House in Kent. The talks were attended by some U.S. officials via video link, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that European powers offered a counterproposal for talks with Russia that would in the first instance demand a ceasefire.
Any decisions taken without Ukraine "are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything,' Zelenskyy said. "The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question is already in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will and will not be able to deviate from this.'
Zelenskyy also warned against accepting Russia's spin on possible outcomes of a negotiation, saying that Putin was solely responsible for blocking an end to the war.
"His only card is the ability to kill, and he is trying to sell the cessation of killings at the highest possible price,' the Ukrainian leader said in a later post on X. "It is important that this does not mislead anyone.'
Zelenskyy also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as well the prime ministers of Spain, Denmark and Estonia, according to his posts.
Rescue workers after a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine, on April 14 |
Tyler Hicks / The New York Times
Separately, Macron had phone discussions with Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the French president said on X.
In turn, Putin spoke on Saturday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the latest in a series of international calls by the Russian leader since he met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff last week.
Amid preparations for talks, Russia and Ukraine continued to trade air attacks overnight. Russia shot down a total of 224 Ukrainian drones over its territory from late Friday through 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, according to the nation's defense ministry. Three UAVs targeting Moscow were downed earlier in the first half of the day, the Russian capital's mayor said in Telegram posts.
Ukrainian drones hit a UAV storage facility in Kzyl Yul in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, some 1,300 kilometers from Ukrainian territory, the Security Service of Ukraine said on Telegram.
Separately, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov inspected facilities of the nation's Baltic fleet in the Kaliningrad region, Russia's exclave neighboring Lithuania and Poland. Belousov said the means of repelling drone attacks is among the fleet's priorities, according to a ministry statement.
Ukraine's air forces on Telegram reported 47 drones and two Iskander missiles fired by Russia overnight. According to preliminary data, as of 9:00 a.m., air defenses had repelled one Iskander missile and 16 UAVs.
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A summit in Alaska — a U.S. state that once belonged to the Russian Empire — would send a strong signal of Putin's rehabilitation, while also pointing to the Kremlin's long historical reach as a great power. Trump's invitation alone is a win for the Kremlin. If the summit also serves to delay U.S. sanctions or produces a "peace' plan that sows dissension between Ukraine and its allies, all the more so. But any genuine path to a lasting end to hostilities will need a lot more pressure, both financial and military, as well as preparation. If an account in Germany's Bild magazine is correct, Putin and his officials ran rings around Witkoff when they met the U.S. real estate-developer-turned-diplomat last week, leaving him confused about what was on offer. Whatever Witkoff may have misunderstood, it was enough for the U.S. president to say land swaps were on the table, when they aren't. 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