Zelenskiy Rejects Ceding Land As European Leaders Back Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv won't cede territory to end the war with Russia as European leaders pledged their continued support for Ukraine's sovereignty. 

“We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force,” European leaders said Saturday in a joint statement. “The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.” The statement was backed by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Finland.

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he'll meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15, with the apparent exclusion of Zelenskiy from talks aimed at ending Russia's invasion of its neighbor, now halfway through a fourth year. 

Zelenskiy's comments were his first response to news of that meeting, as well as reports that talks between Washington and Moscow center around a deal that would lock in Russia's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, according to people familiar with the matter.

That includes a demand by Putin that Ukraine cede Crimea, which Kremlin forces illegally annexed in 2014, as well as its entire eastern Donbas area. Such an outcome would require Zelenskiy to withdraw troops from parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions still held by Kyiv.

National security advisers from Europe, Ukraine and the US met in the UK and made significant progress toward the aim of ending the fighting during hours of talks on Saturday, according to a US official who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. The talks followed an earlier call between Zelenskiy and Starmer, and a flurry of diplomacy involving Zelenskiy and other European leaders. 

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and US Vice President JD Vance co-hosted the meeting at Chevening House in Kent. The talks were attended by some US officials via video link, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that European powers offered a counterproposal for talks with Russia that would in the first instance demand a ceasefire. 

Any decisions taken without Ukraine “are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything,” Zelenskiy said. “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question is already in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will and will not be able to deviate from this.” 

Zelenskiy also warned against accepting Russia's spin on possible outcomes of a negotiation, saying that Putin was solely responsible for blocking an end to the war.

“His only card is the ability to kill, and he is trying to sell the cessation of killings at the highest possible price,” the Ukrainian leader said in a later post on X. “It is important that this does not mislead anyone.”

Zelenskiy also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as well the prime ministers of Spain, Denmark and Estonia, according to his posts. 

Separately, Macron had phone discussions with Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the French president said on X. 

In turn, Putin spoke on Saturday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the latest in the series of international calls by the Russian leader since he met with US special envoy Steve Witkoff this week. 

Amid preparations for talks, Russia and Ukraine continued to trade air attacks overnight. Russia shot down a total of 224 Ukrainian drones over its territory from late Friday through 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, according to nation's defense ministry. Three UAVs targeting Moscow were downed before in the first half of the day, Russian capital's mayor said in Telegram posts.

Ukrainian drones hit a UAV storage facility in Kzyl Yul in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from Ukrainian territory, the Security Service of Ukraine said on Telegram. 

Separately, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov inspected facilities of the nation's Baltic fleet in the Kaliningrad region, Russia's exclave neighboring Lithuania and Poland. Belousov said the means of repelling drone attacks is among the fleet's priorities, according to a ministry statement. 

Ukraine's air forces on Telegram reported 47 drones and two Iskander missiles fired by Russia overnight. According to preliminary data, as of 9:00 a.m. local time, air defenses had repelled one Iskander missile and 16 UAVs.