Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reiterated that Ukraine will not cede any of its territory under a U.S.-backed peace initiative championed by President Donald Trump, citing Ukrainian law, international law and moral principles. Trump, in recent remarks, has urged Kyiv to be more flexible and argued that Russia currently holds the advantage in the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been meeting with European leaders while resisting intense U.S. pressure to accept a peace proposal that would involve territorial concessions to Russia.
Answering reporters’ questions in a WhatsApp chat late Monday, Zelensky reaffirmed that Ukraine will not surrender any land, even as Washington seeks a compromise. According to comments reported by the Associated Press and The Washington Post, he said Ukraine has no legal or moral right to give up territory.
“According to the law we don’t have such right. According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we don’t have a moral right either,” Zelensky said, stressing that Kyiv is fighting precisely to preserve its territory and sovereignty.
The U.S. proposal, initially drafted as a 28‑point plan and later revised, has been presented to both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials cited by major outlets including The Washington Post and Reuters. The framework has been widely reported to envisage Ukraine ceding control over parts of the eastern Donbas region to Russia in exchange for security guarantees and an end to active hostilities. Ukrainian and European leaders have pushed back strongly against any requirement that Kyiv formally relinquish territory.
Trump, in recent interviews and exchanges with reporters, has escalated public pressure on Zelensky. According to Time magazine and The Washington Post, Trump has argued that “Russia has the upper hand” in the conflict and has suggested Ukraine is “losing,” while urging Kyiv to be more accommodating in negotiations. He has repeatedly portrayed U.S. aid to Ukraine as excessive and said Ukraine should consider land concessions to bring the nearly four‑year war to an end.
Trump has also expressed frustration with Zelensky’s stance on the peace plan. In comments reported by The Washington Post, he said the Ukrainian leader “hasn’t yet read the proposal” and claimed that Ukrainian negotiators are more open to it than Zelensky himself, even as Ukrainian officials publicly insist they will not accept any deal that locks in Russian territorial gains.
Negotiations over the U.S.-backed framework have been complicated by disputes over the status of the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which remains under Russian control. U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said over the weekend that efforts to reach an agreement are “almost there” and “really, really close,” but that talks still hinge on resolving those two issues, according to remarks reported by Reuters and other outlets.
Russia, however, has signaled that it is not ready to accept the current U.S. proposal. Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy adviser, said Moscow believes Washington must make “serious, radical changes” to the documents on Ukraine, according to Russian media accounts cited by Western news organizations. The Kremlin has continued to demand recognition of its claims over the whole of Donbas, even though Ukrainian forces still control a portion of the region and most countries recognize it as Ukrainian territory.
Trump has also criticized Ukraine’s wartime governance, suggesting that delays in holding elections could undercut Kyiv’s democratic credentials. He has portrayed the situation as one in which, without a deal, Ukraine risks further losses against a larger and better-resourced Russia. At the same time, he has described Russia’s ongoing missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, which have killed large numbers of civilians, as a tragedy for humanity, while insisting his aim is to end the bloodshed through a negotiated settlement.
Zelensky, for his part, has said he believes Trump wants to end the war but argues that any peace has to be “just” and cannot reward aggression. He has told reporters that while the United States is looking for compromise, Ukraine and its European allies remain united in rejecting a settlement that would formalize Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian land.
