Ukraine war latest: Kyiv must accept new borders, says Trump
The text, published on the European Council website, carried a footnote that said: 'Hungary does not associate itself with this statement.'
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, has maintained diplomatic and economic ties with Moscow as other EU members have sought to make President Putin a pariah. Orban has also opposed European sanctions on Russia and vowed to block moves to welcome Ukraine into the EU.
EU leaders stressed 'the inherent right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny' before President Trump's meeting with President Putin.
'We, the leaders of the European Union, welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and achieving a just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine,' a statement said.
'A just and lasting peace that brings stability and security must respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and that international borders must not be changed by force.'
The European preference (option one) is for a ceasefire on the current 680-mile long front line. Other possibilities include Russia extending gains in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions (option two), or also in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson (option three). Trump's insistence that any peace deal would involve 'some swapping of territories' could mean a trade, whereby Putin gets the whole of the Donbas in exchange for returning parts of Kherson to Ukraine (option four).
Citing reports from Ukraine's intelligence and military command, President Zelensky warned that President Putin was making preparations for new offensive operations in Ukraine.
'So far, there is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation,' Zelensky said in his nightly address. 'On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations.'
Putin was 'definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war,' he added. 'Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting exactly as before, applying the same pressure on Ukraine as before.'
Downing Street has warned President Trump not to trust President Putin to stick to a Ukraine ceasefire deal, as western leaders scrambled to help Kyiv prepare for a peace summit on Friday.
Putin cannot be trusted 'as far as you could throw him', No 10 said on Monday, as Britain pushed for guarantees to ensure that any pause in the fighting agreed at the meeting between the two presidents is not used by Russia simply as a breathing space to prepare for a new offensive.
European leaders urged Trump over the weekend to allow Ukraine to take part in the talks, nervous at what he might cede to Putin at the summit.
Trump confirmed that Zelensky would not attend his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday. He said he would instead call the Ukrainian president once the summit was over. He speculated that Zelensky could meet Putin afterwards. 'I'll be there if they need,' he added.
Trump said he would only call Zelensky if Putin proposed a 'fair deal'.
President Trump criticised President Zelensky for refusing to cede territory and repeated that there needed to be some 'land swapping' to end the war.
In some of his harshest remarks about Zelensky in the past several months, Trump said he 'very severely' disagreed with his handling of the war, saying 'it never should have happened'.
'I was a little bothered by the fact Zelensky was saying 'I have to get constitutional approval',' he said. 'He's got approval to go into war and kill everybody? But he needs approval to do a land swap?'
European countries have said that any ceasefire should be agreed on the basis of the present front line, and have urged Trump not to accept a peace settlement that would award Putin more land.
President Trump has said Ukraine must accept the redrawing of its borders to achieve peace, before his talks with President Putin in Alaska on Friday.
In a press conference lasting longer than an hour, Trump confirmed that Zelensky would not attend the meeting at the end of the week.
Speaking about conditions for a ceasefire, Trump said: 'There will be some land-swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody.
'We're going to change the lines, the battle lines. Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They've occupied some very prime territory. We're going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine. They have taken largely — in real estate we call it oceanfront property. That's always the most valuable property.'
Trump appeared to be referring to the territory on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, a stretch of coastline that includes the city of Mariupol. Mariupol was reduced to rubble in one of the most brutal battles of the war when more than 8,000 people died during a Russian siege.
• Read in full: Trump to 'get back Ukraine's oceanfront property' from Russia
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The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine will not cede land that could be Russian springboard for new war, Zelenskyy says
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine could not agree to a Russian proposal to give up more of his country's territory in exchange for a ceasefire because Moscow would use what it gained as a springboard to start a future war. The Ukrainian president said he did not believe that Donald Trump supported Russia's demands, and he expressed hope the US leader would act as an honest mediator when he meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. He added there was no sign that Russia was preparing to implement a ceasefire, as reports emerged that small sabotage groups had pierced Ukrainian defences in the eastern Donbas, advancing about six miles in three days. Zelenskyy also warned that Russia was planning new offensives on three parts of the frontline. Speaking to journalists in the run-up to the Trump-Putin summit, and a day before a virtual meeting with US and European leaders, Zelenskyy said he believed that Putin wanted to dominate his country because he 'does not want a sovereign Ukraine'. It was therefore dangerous, Zelenskyy said, for Ukraine to be forced by the US into accepting Russia's demand to take over the parts of Donbas it does not control after the Alaska summit. The region sought by Russia amounted to 'about 90,000 square kilometres' of the country, he said. Last week Russia indicated it was prepared to consider a ceasefire in the Ukraine war for the first time, in exchange for Ukraine withdrawing from the parts of Donbas it still controlled. Though Trump then suggested that Russia and Ukraine could engage in some 'swapping of territories', Zelenskyy said he understood that Russia was 'simply offering not to advance further, not to withdraw from anywhere' and that swaps were not on the table. 'We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do it,' Zelenskyy said. 'For Russians, Donbas is a springboard for a future new offensive.' The region demanded by Russia was too strategically important to give up, he said, because it was a heavily fortified area that protected Ukraine's central cities. 'I have heard nothing – not a single proposal – that would guarantee that a new war will not start tomorrow and that Putin will not try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv' once Russia had gained all of Donbas, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine's leader said he wanted Putin instead to agree to a ceasefire on the current frontlines and for both sides to return all prisoners of war and missing children, before any discussion about territory and the future security of the country. 'Any question of territory cannot be separated from security guarantees,' he said. Zelenskyy said he would not be at the summit in Alaska, the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin with both in office since 2018. But he said he hoped it would be followed by 'a trilateral meeting' with Trump and Putin, though the Russian leader has so far said he is not willing to meet Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader also expressed faith in the unpredictable Trump, who he said could act as an honest broker between himself and Putin. 'I do not believe that Putin's proposal is Trump's proposal,' he said. 'I believe that Trump represents the United States of America. He is acting as a mediator – he is in the middle, not on Russia's side. Let him not be on our side but in the middle.' He said he did not know what exactly Putin and Trump were going to discuss in Alaska, saying 'probably there is a bilateral track' of talks about other topics of mutual interest, such as trade, sanctions and business. But he said Putin had scored a diplomatic win in securing the meeting: 'He is seeking, excuse me, photographs. He needs a photo of his meeting with President Trump.' Zelenskyy said Russia was desperately trying to show it was winning the war and that the Kremlin wanted 'to create a certain narrative, especially in the American media, that Russia is moving forward and Ukraine is losing' by mounting sabotage attacks in the Donbas region. He acknowledged that 'groups of Russians advanced about 10 kilometres in several places' although he said: 'They have no equipment, only weapons in their hands,' and said that some had already been killed or captured. But the breach is ill-timed from Ukraine's point of view. In Alaska, Putin is likely to tell Trump that such successes show that Russia is gradually winning the three-year war in the east, and so US future support for Kyiv will be wasted. War maps showed two lines of advance east of the town of Dobropillya, and gains of about six miles since Friday. Experts said the next few days would be critical to see if Ukraine could contain the break in the front. Ukraine's military said Russia had concentrated about 110,000 troops in the sector and that the invaders were 'brazenly attempting to infiltrate our defensive lines with sabotage and small infantry groups, regardless of their losses'. The military command said in a social media post that reserves had been deployed at the order of Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's chief military commander, in an effort to restore the frontlines. The Institute for the Study of War said Russian 'sabotage and reconnaissance groups' had infiltrated Ukrainian-held territory near Dobropillya, a key supply point in the west of the Donetsk region. 'It is premature to call the Russian advances in the Dobropillya area an operational-level breakthrough,' the ISW said on Monday night. It said the invaders would now try to turn 'tactical advances' into something more significant. Russia is taking heavy casualties of about 1,000 a day, with 500 killed and 500 wounded on Monday, Zelenskyy said, as it relies heavily on infantry assaults to break Kyiv's defensive lines. Zelenskyy said Ukraine's casualties on the same day were much smaller – a total of 340 – '18 killed and 243 wounded, with 79 missing in action'. But in the past when Moscow's forces have broken through, Ukraine has frequently proved unable to push them back. A former senior Ukrainian army officer, Bohdan Krotevych, said the piercing of Ukraine's lines had come about because 'instead of reinforcing defensive units with infantry', senior commanders in Kyiv had prioritised deploying newly mobilised soldiers into assault forces, leaving units already on the frontline weakened. 'To stabilise the front, we must reinforce brigades on the line of contact with infantry,' Krotevych said, and he called for Ukraine to urgently strengthen its reserve forces and adopt a defensive strategy rather than try to counter high-risk Russian infantry assaults with its own. Dobropillya is a key supply point for the beleaguered towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad to the south and the principal cities of Ukrainian-held Donbas to the east from the centre of the country. Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing a fresh offensive in the autumn involving nearly 30,000 troops moved from Sumy, in the north-east of Ukraine, 'in three directions' on the frontline – towards Zaporizhzhia in the south and Pokrovsk and the nearby Novopavlika in the south-east.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
How much territory does Russia control in Ukraine?
LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has said that both Kyiv and Moscow will have to cede territory to end the war in Ukraine, so how much territory does Russia control in Ukraine? Russia controls nearly 114,500 square km (44,600 square miles), or 19%, of Ukraine, including Crimea, and a major chunk of territory in the east and south-east of the country, according to open source maps of the battlefield. Ukraine does not control any internationally recognised Russian territory. Russia says Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - which were recognised by Moscow as part of Ukraine as the Soviet Union collapsed - are now parts of Russia. Ukraine has repeatedly said it will never recognise Russian occupation of its land, and most countries recognise Ukraine's territory within its 1991 borders. Following are details on the territory, Russian claims and Ukraine's position. Russian forces in 2014 took control of Crimea, which juts out into the Black Sea off southern Ukraine, and after a disputed referendum on joining Russia, Moscow absorbed the region into Russia. Its area is about 27,000 square km. Russia says Crimea is legally part of Russia. Ukraine's position is that Crimea is part of Ukraine, though privately some Ukrainian officials admit that it would be very hard to return Crimea to Ukrainian control by force. Crimea was absorbed into the Russian empire by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Russia's Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol was founded soon afterwards. In 1921, Crimea became part of Russia within the Soviet Union until 1954, when it was handed to Ukraine, also then a Soviet republic, by Communist Party chief Nikita Khrushchev, an ethnic Ukrainian. Russia controls about 46,570 square km, or 88%, of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, including all of the Luhansk region and 75% of the Donetsk region. About 6,600 square km is still controlled by Ukraine but Russia has been focusing most of its energy along the front in Donetsk, pushing towards the last remaining major cities. Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions broke away from Ukrainian government control in 2014 and proclaimed themselves independent "people's republics". Putin in 2022 recognised them as independent states just days before the invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces control about 74% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of southeastern Ukraine, or about 41,176 square km. Ukraine controls about 14,500 square km across the two regions. Putin in 2024 said that he would be willing to agree peace if Ukraine withdrew from all regions claimed but not fully controlled by Russia - an area currently of about 21,000 square km - and officially renounced its ambitions to join NATO. Reuters reported in 2024 that Putin was open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Trump but ruled out making any major territorial concessions and insisted that Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO. Two sources said Putin might be willing to withdraw from the relatively small patches of territory it holds in other areas of Ukraine. Putin's conditions for peace include a legally binding pledge that NATO will not expand eastwards, Ukrainian neutrality and limits on its armed forces, protection for Russian speakers who live there, and acceptance of Russia's territorial gains, sources told Reuters earlier this year. Russia also controls small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine. Across the Sumy and Kharkiv regions, Russia controls about 400 square km of territory. In Dnipropetrovsk, Russia has a tiny area near the border. Russia has said it is carving out a buffer zone in Sumy to protect its Kursk region from Ukrainian attack. Russia classes the Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol, the Luhansk People's Republic, the Donetsk People's Republic, and the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as subjects of the Russian Federation. Ukraine says the territories are part of Ukraine. Most countries do not recognise the areas as part of Russia but some do. Crimea has been recognised by Syria, North Korea and Nicaragua. The United Nations General Assembly declared in 2014 the annexation illegal and recognised Crimea as part of Ukraine. The resolution was opposed by 11 countries. Putin has repeatedly compared the fate of Kosovo and Crimea. He has accused the West of having double standards for recognising Kosovo as an independent country in 2008 against the wishes of Serbia but opposing the recognition of Crimea. Russia opposed the independence of Kosovo.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Russian troops advance in Ukraine ahead of Trump-Putin peace summit
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Small bands of Russian soldiers thrust deeper into eastern Ukraine on Tuesday ahead of a summit this week between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, which European Union states fear could end in peace terms imposed on an unlawfully shrunken Ukraine. In one of the most extensive incursions so far this year, Russian troops advanced near the coal-mining town of Dobropillia, part of Putin's campaign to take full control of Ukraine's Donetsk region. Ukraine's military dispatched reserve troops, saying they were in difficult combat against small groups of advancing Russian soldiers. Trump has said any peace deal would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Russia and Ukraine, which has up to now depended on the U.S. as its main arms supplier. Virtually all the territory in question is Ukrainian, alarming President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his European allies. Zelenskiy and most of his European counterparts have said a lasting peace cannot be secured without Ukraine's voice in the negotiations, and must comply with international law and Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. They plan to call Trump on Wednesday to sway him ahead of his summit in Alaska on Friday with Putin, and they have praised the U.S. president's peace efforts, if not every idea he has floated for getting there. "An imitated rather than genuine peace will not hold for long and will only encourage Russia to seize even more territory," Zelenskiy said in a statement on Tuesday after a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has hosted previous talks between Ukrainian and Russian leaders. Ukraine faces a shortage of soldiers after Russia invaded more than three years ago, easing the path for the latest Russian advances. "This breakthrough is like a gift to Putin and Trump during the negotiations," said Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, suggesting it could increase pressure on Ukraine to yield territory under any deal. Ukraine's military meanwhile said it had retaken two villages in the eastern region of Sumy on Monday, part of a small reversal in more than a year of slow, attritional Russian gains in the southeast. Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has mounted a new offensive this year in Sumy after Putin demanded a "buffer zone" there. Ukraine and its European allies fear that Trump, keen to claim credit for making peace and seal new business deals with Russia's government, will end up rewarding Putin for his 11 years spent in efforts to seize Ukrainian territory, the last three in open warfare. European leaders have said Ukraine must be capable of defending itself if peace and security is to be guaranteed on the continent, and that they are ready to contribute further. "Ukraine cannot lose this war and nobody has the right to pressure Ukraine into making territorial or other concessions, or making decisions that smack of capitulation," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a government meeting. "I hope we can convince President Trump about the European position." Zelenskiy has said he and European leaders "all support President Trump's determination." Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Putin's principal ally in Europe, was the only leader not to join the EU's statement of unity, and mocked his counterparts. "The fact that the EU was left on the sidelines is sad enough as it is," he said. "The only thing that could make things worse is if we started providing instructions from the bench." Trump had been recently hardening his stance towards Russia, agreeing to send more U.S. weapons to Ukraine and threatening hefty trade tariffs on buyers of Russian oil in an ultimatum that has now lapsed. Even so, the prospect of Trump hosting Putin on U.S. soil for the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021 has revived fears that he might put narrow U.S. interests ahead of the security of European allies or broader geopolitics.
