LONDON — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated Monday that Ukraine would not cede land to Russia, a day after President Donald Trump appeared to criticize him amid pressure for Kyiv to accept painful concessions to end the war.
"Are we considering giving up any territory? We have no legal right — under Ukrainian law, under our constitution, under international law — and honestly, we have no moral right, either," Zelenskyy said, according to audio released by his office.
In rejecting a long-standing Russian demand to end a war that started when President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Russia's much smaller neighbor, Zelenskyy has cited not only international law, his country’s interests and sovereignty, but also Ukraine’s constitution.
Zelenskyy's comments came after Trump said he was “a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal.” It was unclear exactly which version of the peace plan Trump was referring to.
“His people love it. But he hasn’t. Russia is fine with it,” Trump said on the Kennedy Center Honors red carpet in Washington.
Despite Trump’s suggestion that Moscow was “fine” with the most up-to-date version of the deal, the Kremlin has indicated otherwise.
Trump originally approved a 28-point peace plan to end the war that included Ukraine's ceding its territory, among other demands seen as favoring Russia.
“You know, Russia ... I guess would rather have the whole country when you think of it,” Trump said. “But Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure Zelenskyy is fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.”
Zelenskyy also said that negotiations led by the United States had whittled the original 28 points to 20 and that while he believed in Trump’s commitment to ending the war, he did not trust Russia.
“President Trump definitely wants to end the war — that is a fact,” he said. “But for us, what matters is how and on what terms it will end, so that there is no risk of the war starting again — because we do not trust Russia. That’s all.”
Ukraine aimed to send its “position” on the existing 20 points to the United States on Tuesday evening, Zelenskyy said.
On Sunday, Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said the American side would have to make “radical changes” to the draft on “some issues.”
Russia has not publicly backed off of hard-line demands under which Kyiv would cede much of the one-fifth of the country that Russia holds and hobble Ukraine militarily for the foreseeable future. Zelenskyy said Monday that negotiators were still split over the core issues of territorial concessions and security guarantees.
After having flown to Moscow with a revised version of the proposal, Trump’s team held talks with Ukrainian officials in Miami, but the push from Washington has so far failed to yield a breakthrough.
Earlier Monday, Zelenskyy presented a unified image alongside the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom at the British Prime Minister's Office on Downing Street in London.
He was in London to rally support from his European allies as leaders on the continent scramble for a seat at the negotiating table.
Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said over the weekend that a deal to end the war was “really, really close” but that two main issues remained: the eastern territories and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, which Russia controls. “If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,” Kellogg said.
But Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, suggested his father could walk away from peace negotiations. Speaking at a forum in Qatar this weekend, he said the American public does not have the appetite for funding Kyiv’s war effort.
