Arya News - Zelenskyy`s remarks suggest he will not bend to pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin or President Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that Ukraine will not give up any territory to Russia and said components of a plan to end the war between the countries are ready to be presented to the U.S.
"Russia is insisting that we give up territories, but we don"t want to cede anything," Zelenskyy said in an online press conference Monday, the AFP news agency reported.
"We have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don"t have any moral right either," Zelenskyy said after leaving London, where he met with the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Zelenskyy"s remarks suggest he will not bend to pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin or President Trump, whose negotiators had proposed Ukraine give up its eastern region of the Donbas – about 20% of the country"s territory – as part of a plan to end Russia"s war on Ukraine , according to a draft shared publicly by a Ukrainian opposition politician and confirmed by a White House official. The Dobas region has mostly been taken over by Russia"s army in its nearly four-year long invasion of Ukraine, and the Kremlin had agreed to this point in the White House-authored peace proposal.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine will share a revised peace plan with the Trump administration.
"We are working very actively on all components of possible steps to end the war," he said Tuesday on social media. "The Ukrainian and European components have already been worked out more, and we are ready to present them to our partners in America. Together with the American side, we expect to make the possible steps as workable as possible as soon as possible."
While he did not share details, the plan could be sent to Washington as early as Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency.
Zelenskyy held talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and French President Emmanuel Macron in London on Monday, as talks over the U.S.-proposed peace initiative have stagnated. The idea that Ukraine must give up the Donbas region is a key sticking point in the U.S. plan, which Trump administration officials offered in November as a 28-point proposal.
Zelenskyy said he would be willing to travel to the United States for more talks with President Trump, who said in an interview with Politico on Monday that Ukraine has to "play ball." Mr. Trump said Russia has the "upper hand" in the conflict, adding, "they always did. They"re much bigger."
He also blasted European leaders over their handling of Ukraine
"They"re not doing a good job," Mr. Trump told the outlet. "Europe is not doing a good job in many ways. They"re not doing a good job. They talk too much. And they"re not producing. They talk but they don"t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on."
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