 "Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sings the national anthem during his visit in Kherson, Ukraine, November 14, 2022. (Photo: Reuters)")
As US President Donald Trump prepares to host Vladimir Putin in Alaska , Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that the Russian leader intends to “deceive” the United States. But the Russian leader is not his only concern.
Zelenskyy and his European partners are primarily concerned that Trump could cut a deal with Putin about the Russian war in Ukraine without Ukraine’s involvement. They are also concerned that Trump could pressure Ukraine into a deal friendly to Putin, such as accepting his demand of handing over the entire eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region to Russia as a condition to end the war.
Amid such fears, Zelenskyy has spent recent days putting up a united front with European leaders and conveying to Trump that any deal without Ukraine and Europe’s participation and approval will be meaningless . To make it crystal-clear, Germany will convene a summit of Ukrainian and European leaders, including the European Union (EU), with Trump and his deputy JD Vance on Wednesday.
Ahead of the Europe-US summit, Zelenskyy warned, “We understand the Russians’ intention to try to deceive America. We will not allow this. I greatly appreciate the determination of President Trump to stop the deaths in war. Many people give their lives every day. But the only root cause of these killings is Putin’s desire to fight and manipulate everyone he comes into contact with.”
Even as Zelenskyy and European leaders press Trump to not be deceived, they are well aware of the president’s record so far. He has not taken any punitive action so far and has instead trashed Ukraine time to time — including on Monday when he slammed Zelenskyy for not surrendering Ukraine’s territories to end the war. Even when his deadline passed last week and Putin did not agree to a ceasefire, Trump did nothing and instead announced the summit in Alaska.
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View AllTrump sets low expectations as Zelenskyy considers concessions
Ahead of the Alaska summit, Trump has set the expectations low, saying that it would be a “feel-out meeting” intended to see if the Putin was ready to reach an agreement. He said that he would know within the first two minutes of the meeting whether the Russian leader wanted to end the war.
Trump has said that any deal would involve “some swapping of territories”. Zelenskyy has rejected any handover of Ukrainian land to Russia , saying that Ukraine “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier”.
Zelenskyy further said, “Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work.”
Zelenskyy, however, is willing to cede territory that is already controlled by Russia , which would essentially freezing battle lines, according to The Telegraph.
However, Zelenskyy is not willing to cede any Ukraine-held territory to Russia and the surrender of Russia-held territories would be subjected to conditions like security guarantees, the report said.
Separately, The Associated Press reported Ukrainian officials as saying that Zelenskyy would be willing to sign a peace deal that would de facto recognise Ukraine’s inability to regain lost territories militarily.
The report suggests that Zelenskyy would be willing to see de facto recognition of Russia-controlled territories but no de jure —legal— recognition.