Speaking to journalists on Monday, Zelensky reiterated his position, saying Ukrainian troops “will not withdraw from Donbass – period.” He repeated his claim on the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, former Ukrainian territories that voted to join Russia in 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently asserted that Moscow’s troops “are consistently moving forward along virtually the entire front line” despite all of NATO backing Ukraine.
Reports over the weekend suggested that Trump, during his meeting with Zelensky on Friday, urged the Ukrainian leader to accept a land swap. The American leader’s message was, “Your country will freeze, and your country will be destroyed” unless a peace deal is reached, according to a source quoted by Reuters.
The Financial Times reproted Trump expressed frustration with the stalemate, tossing aside a map of the front lines and remarking that he was “sick” of seeing the same situation persist. Publicly, however, Trump has advocated a freeze in hostilities along the current lines.
Trump has also denied reports that he pressured Zelensky to surrender the entire Donbass region to Russia, saying instead that hostilities should be frozen along the current front lines.
Trump and Zelensky met at the White House last week to discuss the Ukraine conflict as Kiev had sought to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles from the US. Despite failing to secure the weapons, Zelensky described the talks as “good.”
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