Zelenskyy vows no land cession as Trump Putin summit nears

Zelenskyy rejects territory concessions as a Trump Putin summit looms and signals about territorial swaps surface in talks.

Zelenskyy vows no land cession as Trump Putin summit nears

Ukraine's president Volodmyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Kyiv will not surrender land captured during the war. He posted a video on social media reaffirming that Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier and that Russia should not be rewarded for aggression. The remarks come as a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is planned for next Friday in Alaska, a gathering not inviting Ukraine. Trump has framed the talks as a path to ending the war and hinted at possible territorial swaps as part of a deal, calling the process very complicated but indicating some land could switch hands later.

Zelenskyy's stance sets a clear line against any deal that would permanently cede land. The Trump Putin meeting could shift expectations among Kyiv's international partners and potentially affect markets that watch the war closely. The fact that Ukraine is not at the table highlights a mismatch between the pace of diplomacy and ground realities. If diplomacy moves too quickly or appears to reward aggression, domestic support in Ukraine and among allies could waver, complicating future negotiations and postwar planning.

Highlights

Diplomacy will be tested by what is said and what is allowed to guide action