Zelensky rejects Trump talk of ceding Ukrainian territory, says Kyiv must be part of any talks

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday rejected the idea that his country would give up land to end the war with Russia after President Trump suggested a peace deal could include “some swapping of territories.”

Zelensky said that Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”

Later Saturday, European and Ukrainian officials met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in England to discuss how to end the nearly 3½-year war. The talks came after Trump said he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelensky.

Representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland attended the meeting in Kent, England, Zelensky said in a post on X, calling the talks constructive.

“I have not heard any partners express doubts about America’s ability to ensure that the war ends,” Zelensky wrote. “The President of the United States has the levers and the determination.”

Earlier in the day, Zelensky dismissed the planned Trump-Putin summit, scheduled for Friday in Alaska, warning that any negotiations to end Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II must include Kyiv.

“Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work,” he 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.

The Trump-Putin meeting could prove pivotal in a war that began when Russia invaded its smaller neighbor and has led to tens of thousands of deaths, although it’s far from certain it will stop the fighting, as Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace.

“It seems entirely logical for our delegation to fly across the Bering Strait simply, and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska,” Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said Saturday in a statement posted to the Kremlin’s news channel.

In comments at the White House on Friday, Trump gave no details on the “swapping of territories.” Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside the five regions it claims to have annexed — Crimea and the four regions seized since Moscow’s invasion.

Trump said his meeting with Putin would come before any sit-down discussion involving Zelensky. His announcement that he planned to host one of America’s adversaries on U.S. soil broke with expectations that they’d meet in a third country. The gesture appears to give Putin validation after the U.S. and its allies had long sought to make him a pariah over his war against Ukraine.

Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Associated Press that the “symbology” of holding the summit in Alaska was clear, and that the location “naturally favors Russia.”

“It’s easy to imagine Putin making the point. … We once had this territory and we gave it to you, therefore Ukraine had this territory and now should give it to us,” he said, referring to the 1867 transaction known as the Alaska Purchase when Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million.

On the streets of Kyiv, reactions to the idea of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia ranged from skepticism to quiet resignation.

“It may not be capitulation, but it would be a loss,” said Ihor Usatenko, a 67-year-old pensioner, who said he would consider ceding territory “on condition for compensation and, possibly, some reparations.”

Anastasia Yemelianova, 31, said she was torn: “Honestly, I have two answers to that question. The first is as a person who loves her country. I don’t want to compromise within myself,” she told the AP. “But seeing all these deaths and knowing that my mother is now living in Nikopol under shelling and my father is fighting, I want all this to end as soon as possible.”

Others, like Svitlana Dobrynska, whose son died fighting, rejected outright concessions but supported halting combat to save lives.

“We don’t have the opportunity to launch an offensive to recapture our territories,” the 57-year-old pensioner said. “But to prevent people from dying, we can simply stop military operations, sign some kind of agreement, but not give up our territories.”

Ultimatums and sanctions

Upset that Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a peace settlement.

The deadline was Friday. But the White House did not answer questions that evening about the state of possible sanctions after Trump announced the Putin summit.

Trump’s recent criticism of Russian attacks on Ukraine marked a reversal for the president, who had previously praised Putin and castigated Zelensky over the war. His apparent turn toward Moscow now appears to be another shift.

Gould-Davies likened attempts to understand that shift to “Kremlinology” — the Cold War-era practice of deciphering opaque signals from Soviet leadership.

“We’re … looking for clues and for hints … about what the hell is going on; what the mix of influences around Trump and indeed in Trump’s head is propelling his latest statement,” he said.

“It’s as if his disillusionment with Putin … never happened,” Gould-Davies said, pointing to a sudden return to the more conciliatory Russia policy Trump embraced at the start of his presidency.

Prior to Trump announcing the meeting with Putin, his efforts to pressure Russia into stopping the fighting had delivered no progress. The Kremlin’s bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities.

Two people died and 16 were wounded Saturday when a Russian drone hit a minibus in the suburbs of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said. Two others died after a Russian drone struck their car in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov.

Ukraine’s air force said Saturday it intercepted 16 of the 47 Russian drones launched overnight, while 31 drones hit targets across 15 different locations. It also said it shot down one of the two missiles Russia deployed.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 97 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight and 21 more Saturday morning.

Kullab and Morton write for the Associated Press and reported from Kyiv and London, respectively.