Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Tuesday that he will not cede eastern territory to Russia, warning that abandoning the Donbas region would give Russian President Vladimir Putin the opportunity to “start a third war” in Ukraine.
His remarks come just days before Putin is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, where the Russian leader is expected to press for territorial concessions as part of a peace deal.
Although there is uncertainty surrounding Putin’s exact terms for a ceasefire, most reported versions indicate he will demand a full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from all areas of the Donbas still under Kyiv’s control — including parts of the Donetsk region, CNN reported.
“For the Russians, Donbas is a springboard for a future new offensive. If we leave Donbas of our own accord or under pressure, we will start a third war,” Zelensky said in a meeting with journalists.
Russia seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014 through an illegal annexation, then launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“I am not going to surrender my country because I have no right to do so,” he added. “If we leave Donbas today, our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control, we will clearly open a bridgehead for the preparation of a Russian offensive.”
Zelensky and senior military officials have warned that Russia is amassing forces for a new offensive, potentially set to launch by September, CNN added.
“I haven’t heard anything — not a single proposal that would guarantee that a new war won’t start tomorrow and that Putin won’t try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv,” the Ukrainian president told reporters.
“The exchange of territories is a very complex issue that cannot be separated from security guarantees for Ukraine, for our sovereign state and our people,” Zelensky added. He also said the European Union’s engagement in peace talks is vital as well because “no one except Europe is giving us security guarantees.”
Zelensky said a discussion involving the United States, Ukraine, and “all of Europe” is set for Wednesday.
Trump has indicated that Zelensky will not attend Friday’s summit, but said he plans to call Kyiv immediately afterward—along with other European leaders—to brief them on the meeting’s outcome, CNN reported.
The White House noted on Tuesday that Zelensky was excluded from the Trump-Putin summit because the Russian president reached out to the administration.
“The president is agreeing to this meeting, at the request of President Putin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, per Fox News. “And the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war.”
“I think the president of the United States getting in the room with the president of Russia, sitting face-to-face rather than speaking over the telephone, will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed,” Leavitt said.
Zelensky, however, has remained adamant that Ukraine must be part of any peace talks.
“Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine — they are simultaneously decisions against peace,” he said in a Saturday statement. “These are dead decisions; they will never work. And what we all need is a real, living peace, one that people will respect.”
Other European allies are siding with Ukraine. Several European leaders issued a statement Saturday claiming that the “path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.”
On Monday, Trump told reporters he expected to know “within minutes” whether Putin was genuinely interested in reaching an agreement. He also acknowledged that any potential deal would require Russia and Ukraine to address certain “land-swapping” issues.