“The Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupyers,” Ukrainian President Voldy Zelensky said in a video released on August 9th.
Trump says the Russian-Ukraine peace agreement could include land exchanges
President Donald Trump said the Russian-Ukraine peace agreement could include the exchange of territories that could benefit both countries.
Ukrainian President Voldimiazelensky refused to make territorial concessions to Russia as part of the peace deal, and made his remarks after President Donald Trump said that “territorial exchange” was part of an agreement to end the war ahead of a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Ukrainians don’t give their land to the occupyers,” Zelensky said in a video released on August 9th.
Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska on August 15th to discuss the end of the three-year conflict. The Trump administration is struggling to mediate peace deals, and Trump is increasingly denounced by Putin, threatening financial consequences if he doesn’t come to the table.
Trump said on August 8 at a White House event that both Russia and Ukraine must give up territory to reach the deal.
“You look at the territory you’ve fought for three. Five years,” Trump said. “We’re looking at that. But we’re looking at the exchange. We’re going to get some back,” he says of the territory of Ukraine, which was occupied by Russia. “We’re switching between some. They’ll be exchanging some of the territory.”
However, Zelensky is strongly opposed to land in Russia, and in a series of social media posts on August 9th, the war “cannot end without Ukraine without us,” adding, “Without Ukraine, at the same time, the decision to peace was “”
“They accomplish nothing,” Zelensky added. “These are still born decisions. They are infeasible decisions.”
Talks have been floating for months and were initially meant to include Zelensky, but Trump has encouraged negotiations. When that didn’t progress, Trump said on August 7 that he was open to meeting Putin without the presence of Zelenkey being a prerequisite.
Then President Joe Biden was the last US leader to meet Putin at the 2021 summit in Switzerland. Trump and Putin met in Finland in 2018. Both meetings were held before Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin claims four Ukrainian regions: Luhansk, Donetsk, Zapolizia and Herson, as well as four regions of Crimea’s Black Sea Peninsula, which annexed in 2014.
Trump’s encounter with Putin could be a pivotal moment in his push to end the Ukrainian war. He has frequently denounced Russian leaders in recent months, threatening to impose new sanctions and tariffs on Moscow and the countries that buy its exports unless Putin agrees to end the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War II.
However, with the Putin Trump Summit approaching, it is unclear whether these sanctions will come into effect, delay or cancel.
The administration took a step forward to punish Moscow’s oil customers on August 6, imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India than Russian oil imports, marking the first financial punishment targeting Russia in Trump’s second term.
Contributions: Lauren Villaglan, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Francia Chambers
