Zelenskyy rejects ceding territory, insists Kyiv must be included in peace talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed on Saturday the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning that any peace deal excluding Kyiv would lead to “dead solutions.”
The Trump-Putin meeting, scheduled for Friday in Alaska, is seen as a potential breakthrough.
In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s territorial integrity, enshrined in the constitution, must be non-negotiable and emphasized that lasting peace must include Ukraine’s voice at the table.
“Any solutions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time, solutions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead solutions, they will never work,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian officials had previously told the Associated Press privately that Kyiv would be amenable to a peace deal that would de facto recognize Ukraine’s inability to regain lost territories militarily.
In comments to reporters at the White House before his post confirming the date and place, Trump suggested that any agreement would likely involve “some swapping of territories,” but he gave no details.
