Kyiv fears Trump will unilaterally negotiate a division of Ukraine’s territory with Putin

The possible division of Ukraine’s territories to end the war was the main topic of discussion at Friday’s meeting at the White House between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian president confirmed this on Sunday in Kyiv at a meeting with the media. Zelenskiy described the meeting in Washington as “constructive,” thus downplaying media reports that the encounter was particularly tense as the Republican had demanded that Ukraine give up Donbas in order to sign a ceasefire agreement with Russia as soon as possible.

State broadcaster Suspilne reported that Zelensky did admit in Sunday’s appearance that there is a risk Ukraine will be forced to swallow a bitter pill, without any say in the matter: “It is clear that if Ukraine is forced to accept whatever is put on the table — that is, a bad territorial agreement — it is obvious that the next step will be to resolve the rest without us.”

The fear of a pact on Ukraine without Ukrainian participation exists not only in Kyiv, but also in Europe. Josep Borrell, former head of European diplomacy, bluntly expressed this on Monday in Barcelona during the World in Progress forum, organized by the PRISA group: “In my opinion, Trump and Vladimir Putin have had an agreement since their meeting in Alaska [last August], and Trump is responsible for making Zelenskiy accept it.” Borrell recalled that Trump allegedly warned his Ukrainian counterpart last Friday that “if Putin wants to, he will destroy you” to force the Ukrainian president to accept the handover of territories, as reported by the Financial Times.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also spoke out strongly about these fears in a social media post on Sunday: “None of us should put pressure on Zelenskiy when it comes to territorial concessions. We should all put pressure on Russia to stop its aggression. Appeasement never was a road to a just and lasting peace.” Zelenskiy reiterated Kyiv’s stance in his daily evening address on Sunday: Ukraine “will never give anything away to the aggressor, and we will never forget anything.” Despite the difficult diplomatic situation, the Ukrainian leader said he was “sure” that “a possible end to the war is near.”

Zelenskiy said that the U.S. side had conveyed Russia’s demands to him, but the Ukrainian leader added that he believes this is not Washington’s position and that it was merely relaying what the Kremlin had told it, particularly what Putin had said to Trump in their telephone conversation on October 16.

Kremlin reaction

Trump denied Sunday that he had demanded Zelenskiy accept any concessions. The Republican said the meeting at the White House was “very interesting and cordial.” Trump emphasized on social media that the war should end now, implying that the best option would be to freeze the conflict where the front lines now lie. “It is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL!” Trump wrote. “They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recalled on Monday that Putin’s position is that he will not accept a truce that freezes the front because it would mean maintaining Ukrainian troops in provinces that Russia considers legitimately annexed.

Zelenskiy confirmed that Moscow maintains its previous demand that the Ukrainian army withdraw from all of Donbas. Of the two provinces that make up the Donbas region, Luhansk and Donetsk, only 30% of the latter remains in Ukrainian hands.

The Ukrainian president also confirmed that there was a new idea on the Russian side, which would involve returning to Kyiv control of the occupied provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for Donbas. Zelenskiy explained that this proposal is not yet sufficiently clear. The future of the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, was not mentioned on this occasion by either Zelenskiy or Trump.

According to Zelenskiy, the person in charge of conveying Putin’s intentions to the Ukrainian delegation in Washington was Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for relations with Russia. The president explained to Witkoff that the annexation of Ukrainian provinces by Russia, following the illegal referendums of 2022, is a moot point, and gave this example: “I asked Witkoff whether, if Putin added something else to the Russian Constitution at the end of this or another war, we would have to withdraw from these territories again. And if I, for example, incorporated two Russian territories into the Ukrainian Constitution, would they withdraw from these territories?”

Zelenskiy reiterated in his press conference on Sunday that the office of the president has no authority to decide changes to the country’s borders. As Justice Minister German Galushchenko warned last August in an article in El PAÍS, any modification of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty requires parliamentary approval with a qualified majority and a binding ruling from the Supreme Court. Both the government and the opposition view this reform as almost impossible to push through.

The summit planned for Budapest in the coming weeks between Putin and Trump was also discussed at the White House meeting. Zelenskiy told his U.S. counterpart that Hungary is not an appropriate mediator because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is Russia’s main ally in the European Union. Despite this, Zelenskiy expressed his willingness to participate in the Budapest meeting, if invited. Trump indicated on Friday that this option was not currently on the agenda.

Zelenskiy reiterated Sunday that his team’s priority issue — the sale of U.S. weapons to Ukraine, especially long-range Tomahawk missiles — did not receive the desired attention in his talks with Trump because the Republican ruled it out, claiming it would be an unnecessary escalation of tensions with Russia. The Ukrainian leader did, however, propose an agreement for European NATO allies to acquire 25 Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries in the medium term.

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