Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday delivered his firmest rejection yet of proposals circulating within President Donald Trump’s developing peace framework, insisting that Ukraine will not surrender sovereign territory in pursuit of a ceasefire with Russia. After a series of consultations with senior European leaders, Zelensky underscored that Ukraine is bound by statute, international norms, and basic morality against ceding land seized by force. “Under our laws, under international law — and under moral law — we have no right to give anything away,” he declared. “That is what we are fighting for.”
Zelensky began the day in London with a closed-door summit alongside leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany before traveling to Brussels for deliberations with NATO and EU officials. Western officials described the meetings as an effort to reestablish common ground after weeks of mounting anxiety that the U.S. plan was inching toward Russian priorities and leaving Kyiv’s core demands behind, reported The Washington Post.
The divide centered on a floated arrangement under which Ukraine would relinquish certain areas it currently controls in the Donbas in exchange for Russian withdrawal from occupied zones and transfer of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Zelensky dismissed the concept as implausible and incompatible with the principles that have animated Ukraine’s resistance since the 2014 annexation of Crimea. European governments have consistently opposed the recognition of territorial gains achieved through invasion, warning that doing so would normalize aggression and destabilize the broader European security system.
Kyiv has signaled openness to a ceasefire based on current front lines rather than formal land concessions. Moscow has refused, reiterating illegal claims over four Ukrainian regions beyond Crimea, though its battlefield control reaches only a fraction of what it claims. A senior Ukrainian official involved in the talks described the updated outline as “increasingly viable” but incomplete and politically fraught.
This is the second or third time that a proposed ceasefire has fallen by the wayside.
Trump has recently faulted Zelensky for slow progress, blaming Kyiv for the diplomatic impasse and downplaying Russia’s refusal to reconsider its territorial demands. Before the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, Trump said, “Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelensky’s fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.” Zelensky countered that the complexities require sustained coordination across the alliance, especially where military guarantees, sanctions, asset seizures, and postwar reconstruction are concerned. “There are some things which we can’t manage without Americans, things which we can’t manage without Europe,” he said in London. “That’s why we need to make some important decisions.”
Those decisions now require a reaffirmation of Ukraine’s territorial red lines, which Zelensky made clear remain non-negotiable.
In London, Zelensky and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s advisers reviewed the latest revisions, shaped in part by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after urgent objections from both Ukrainian and European envoys. The initial draft had been viewed as too accommodating to Russian preferences, prompting frantic revisions to remove provisions that could weaken NATO’s prerogatives or confer de facto recognition of Russian gains. Officials in London underscored the need for stronger air defenses and sustained funding for military infrastructure. A Downing Street statement noted that “Europe must stand with Ukraine, strengthening its ability to defend against relentless attacks that have left thousands without heat or light,” while highlighting advances toward using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction.
In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted a message of solidarity after meeting Zelensky. “Ukraine’s sovereignty must be respected,” she wrote on Twitter. “Ukraine’s security must be guaranteed, in the long term, as a first line of defence for our Union.” The Élysée likewise called for accelerated security commitments and postwar planning, stating, “Work will be intensified to provide Ukraine with robust security guarantees and to plan measures for the reconstruction.”
The multitrack diplomacy has unfolded through several channels. Zelensky reviewed takeaways from conversations between Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council head Rustem Umerov and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Miami, following earlier meetings between the same envoys and Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The version presented to Putin remains undisclosed. Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised Washington’s lower-profile approach as constructive, while disclaiming knowledge of the latest Ukrainian deliberations.
Trump declined to address Zelensky’s territorial veto directly but emphasized the urgency of stopping the bloodshed. “We just want to see people stop from being killed,” he said Monday. “You got a lot of people dying, and I want to see that stopped.” Kyiv has replied that the fastest route to that objective remains straightforward: Russian withdrawal from sovereign Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine approaches its fourth winter of invasion under strain. Ammunition shortages and depleted manpower have enabled Russian advances in the east, while missile strikes on power infrastructure have produced rolling blackouts. A weekend strike near Kharkiv destroyed a medical-storage facility supplying hospitals across the region, the fifth attack targeting Ukrainian pharmaceutical logistics. Local authorities warned that essential drug inventories are already under pressure.
Zelensky negotiates under the cloud of a widening corruption scandal that has swept through his administration. His longtime chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, resigned in November after raids on his properties, and no replacement has been announced. Umerov has taken over talks amid questions surrounding cascading investigations into energy-sector kickbacks that have implicated senior officials and a former business associate of Zelensky.
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