Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will not trade land for a ceasefire with Russia.
U.S. President Donald Trump, announcing on Friday that the time and place for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin had been set, suggested that Ukraine might have to cede some of its territory in exchange for a ceasefire.
In a video address on Saturday, Zelensky stated that Ukraine would not violate its constitution regarding territorial matters.
“Ukrainians will never be ready to gift land to those who occupy it,” Reuters quoted Zelensky as saying.
He also stressed that ending the war in Ukraine is impossible without Ukraine’s direct involvement.
“The war is still ongoing — against our land, against our citizens. Ending it is not possible without us, not possible without Ukraine,” he said. “Ukraine is ready for real peace. But any decisions made against us or without us are decisions against peace.”
On Friday, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that the two presidents would meet in Alaska on August 15.
The Kremlin, the office of the Russian president, also issued a statement confirming that the meeting had been scheduled.
Reuters has reported that officials from both countries have already begun working on possible agendas for a ceasefire.
On Friday, Trump suggested that there could be a land swap for the benefit of both countries. “There will be an exchange of some territory in a way that benefits both sides,” Trump said.
Putin has previously claimed Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, as well as Crimea. However, his forces do not have full control over the entire territory of those four regions.
It has not yet been decided whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate in the August 15 meeting.
Trump had earlier claimed that a trilateral meeting would take place.
Recently, Trump has been working to improve relations with Russia and has taken the initiative to end the war. However, when Putin refused to agree to a ceasefire, Trump angrily announced on Friday that he would raise tariffs to as much as 100 percent and impose additional sanctions.
After his ultimatum expired, Trump revealed that the two presidents would hold direct talks.
Putin holds talks with Xi and Modi, along with leaders of five countries, on the Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the Ukraine war with the leaders of five countries, including China and India.
On Friday, Putin held separate telephone conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
According to Reuters, Putin discussed preparations for talks with the United States regarding the Ukraine war, as well as his earlier conversation with Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Putin had held a three-hour discussion with Witkoff in Moscow last Wednesday about the Ukraine war. Following that, he spoke by phone with the five heads of state to discuss his talks with the United States.
During the call, Chinese President Xi Jinping described the ongoing discussions between Russia and the U.S. as a positive development.
“Maintaining continuous contact between Russia and the United States and improving relations is a positive step toward a political solution to the Ukraine crisis,” Xi told Putin, according to China’s state news agency CCTV, as cited by Reuters.
It has not been disclosed what else Xi and Putin discussed. Putin is scheduled to visit China this September to attend the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Details of Putin’s conversations with the leaders of India and the three former Soviet states have also not been made public.
