Updated at 11:25 AM EDT on August 9, 2025
Ukraine’s KYIV Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, declared on Saturday that his nation has no plans to cede any of the territory it has taken from Russia during the continuing conflict.
In a video shared on several social media platforms, such as X, Zelenskyy declared, “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” “We will not reward Russia for what it has perpetrated,” he stated.
His comments follow President Trump’s announcement that he will meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday of next week.
Trump, who wants the war to end, has hinted that Ukraine may have to cede some of the territory that Russia has taken.
It’s really difficult. Trump stated, “But we’re going to get some [territory] back and some switched.” “There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow.”
Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, stated on Saturday that Russian and American leaders would look for a “long-term solution” to the conflict. Control of Ukrainian territory, restrictions on the size of Ukraine’s future military, and assurances that Ukraine will never be permitted to join NATO are just a few of the demands that Russia has previously stated.
Nevertheless, Zelenskyy stated that no decisions can be made without the participation of his nation, Ukraine, which is not attending the conference.
“Peace is what the Ukrainian people deserve. However, Zelenskyy stated that all parties involved must comprehend what a decent peace is. “It is imperative that Russia put an end to this conflict. The issue, not something else, is that Russia initiated it and is prolonging it while defying all deadlines.
Regaining all of the area that Russia has taken is what Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have consistently stated as their objective. After invading in 2014, Russia began a full-scale military campaign in 2022.
However, the frontlines have not shifted in over two years. Russia has increased its troops and firepower, but at a heavy cost, it is only making small but significant progress. Ukraine has generally stayed on the defensive.
Nearly 20% of Ukraine’s land is under Russian military control in the east and south.
A complicated relationship
The meeting between Trump and Putin takes place in the midst of a complex relationship that has developed between the two leaders over the previous few months.
Trump boasted that his connections with Putin would facilitate a peace agreement and came into office with a pledge to swiftly terminate the war.
Trump claimed that a peace deal was his objective and delayed applying pressure on Putin for months. Trump’s stance has changed more lately, though, as Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine. Trump put further taxes on India, a major purchaser of Russian oil, this week and threatened to impose harsher sanctions on Moscow.
After meeting with Putin in Moscow on August 6, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said that progress had been made.
The Ukrainian people have serious doubts about Putin’s motivations. They think the Russian leader talks to make it seem like he wants a peace agreement, but in reality, they think he is buying time to keep the war going.
The last time Putin had a meeting with a U.S. president was in Geneva in 2021, where he met with Joe Biden. Trump and Putin last met in 2019 in Osaka, Japan, for the G20.
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