Zelenskyy rejects Trump’s Ukrainian land swap proposal
President Zelensky rejects Trump’s proposal to exchange Ukrainian land with Russia ahead of the Alaska peace talks.
LONDON/Kiev, Aug 14 (Reuters) – The US-Russia summit to end the war in Ukraine took only one day, and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visited London on Thursday to strengthen European support for efforts to prevent an agreement to open up land in Ukraine.
The Alaska Summit on Friday was one of Ukraine’s most harsh moments in the war since World War II, which has evacuated thousands and millions since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
In a battlefield backfoot with Russian troops, Zelensky and his allies are keen to avoid dealings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which makes Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian attacks.
Zelensky met British Prime Minister Kiel’s Prime Minister, Stage, and on Wednesday he built momentum for virtual talks with European leaders and Trump, attempting to set the red line for a meeting between Trump and Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. Zelenskiy and Starmer hugged each other before heading to a meeting on Downing Street.
On Wednesday, Trump threatened “serious consequences” if Putin disagrees with peace in Ukraine, but did not specify what the consequences were, but he warned of sanctions if Friday’s meeting proved useless.
“Yesterday was a pivotal moment to strengthen the unity of Europe and the transatlantic,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibikha said in X.
Zelensky said Putin warned Trump that he was “bluffing” about his desire to end the war.
The Ukrainian leader also said Trump supported the idea of security assurance in postwar settlements. Politico cited people familiar with the situation by saying that Trump said the US was saying it could guarantee some conditions.
The advancement of the Russian military
Zelenskyy confirmed this week that Russian troops have advanced about 9-10 km (6 miles) near the town of Dubropyria in the Donetsk region. Suffering from manpower challenges, Ukraine has been forced to move to reserves to stabilize the situation.
Trump’s comments and the results of Wednesday’s virtual meeting could provide encouragement to Kiev.
Trump described the purpose of his talks with Putin in Alaska as “setting the table” for quick follow-up, including Zelensky.
However, Russia is likely to resist Ukraine, and European demands are strongly resisting, and its stance has not changed since Putin first detailed it in June 2024.
Trump said he could include what he called a land exchange. Russia is the fifth largest ruler of Ukraine, and land exchanges within Ukraine can solidify Moscow’s profits.
Zelensky and the Europeans are worried that they will reward Putin with nearly 11 years of efforts to seize the lands of Ukraine and burn him to expand further west in Europe.
Dmitriev, who heads the RDIF Sovereign Wealth Fund in Russia, spoke with Steve Witkov, a former Trump envoy, to discuss the possibility of business cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
Trump’s agreement on the summit last week was a sudden change after several weeks of voicing his frustration with Putin over resisting the US peace initiative.
A Gallup poll released last week found that 69% of Ukrainians support negotiations for the war as soon as possible. However, polls also show that Ukrainians do not want peace at any cost if that means important concessions.
As a condition of the ceasefire, Putin called for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four regions Russia claims as unique but lacks complete control, and formally abandoning plans to join NATO.
Kyiv quickly refused the terms to surrender.
(Reporting by Katarina Demony, Written by Olena Hermash, Andrew Osborne, and Matthias Williams, Edited by Philippa Fletcher)
