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Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t cede territory to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday his country will not make territorial concessions to Russia as the Trump administration looks to broker a peace deal between the two countries.

Zelenskyy told reporters following a meeting with leaders from France, Germany and the U.K. in London that Ukraine has “no right to give anything away” — under Ukrainian, international or moral law — according to The Washington Post.

Zelenskyy’s comments come as the Ukrainian leader faces growing pressure from the U.S. to accept a framework to bring to an end more than three years of fighting since Russia escalated its war with Ukraine in 2022.

The first draft of that framework drew skepticism from Ukrainian and European leaders — as well as bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. — after a leaked draft echoed several key Russian demands, including that Ukraine agree to give up the Donbas region and agree not to join NATO.

Peace talks between the U.S. and Ukraine have since hit a roadblock as the Trump administration insists that Kyiv cede the region in eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said ahead of his trip to London that Ukrainian representatives had held “substantive discussions” with U.S. peace envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, but he added that “the conversation was constructive, though not easy.”

“Today, we held a detailed discussion on our joint diplomatic work with the American side, aligned a shared position on the importance of security guarantees and reconstruction, and agreed on the next steps,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media following the meeting.

Trump told reporters on Sunday evening that the Kremlin was “fine” with the latest version of a peace deal but that Zelenskyy “isn’t ready,” adding that he was “a little bit disappointed that President Zelenskyy hasn’t yet read the proposal.”

Zelenskyy is also set to meet with the leaders of NATO, the European Council and the European Union in Brussels.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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