Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of dragging out the war by refusing calls for a ceasefire, even as U.S. President Donald Trump urged Kyiv to accept a peace deal after his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, reported by BBC News.
“We see that Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation,” Zelensky wrote on X.
His remarks came ahead of a high-stakes meeting with Trump in Washington on Monday. The U.S. president has signaled a dramatic shift in his approach—suggesting Ukraine should bypass a temporary truce and instead move directly toward a permanent peace with Moscow. Writing on Truth Social, Trump argued that ceasefires “do not hold up” and said a final deal was “the best way to end the horrific war.”
According to diplomats, Putin presented Trump with a proposal in Alaska that would force Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk region, while Russia would freeze its military advances in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Trump is said to have relayed this offer to Zelensky in a phone call following the summit.
Kyiv, however, has consistently rejected any suggestion of ceding territory. Just last week, Zelensky vowed never to surrender the Donbas—made up of Donetsk and Luhansk—warning that doing so would only invite future Russian offensives. In his latest statement, he listed “credible security guarantees” and the return of children “abducted from occupied territories” as conditions for any settlement.
The conflicting visions have unsettled Europe. Diplomatic sources told CBS that European leaders worry Trump may pressure Zelensky into concessions. Some leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, stressed that “international borders must not be changed by force,” and called for a trilateral summit that includes Ukraine at the table.
In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised Trump’s diplomacy as a breakthrough, while insisting that “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without President Zelensky.”
For Putin, the Alaska summit was “very useful.” He framed the war as rooted in “the genesis, the causes of this crisis,” suggesting that addressing those grievances is the key to peace. A senior Russian diplomat echoed that the meeting was a “building block for further efforts.”
But in Kyiv, the optics of Trump’s red-carpet welcome for Putin stung deeply. “For negotiations, you shake hands. But the spectacle with kneeling soldiers—terrible, it makes no sense,” said Serhii Orlyk, a 50-year-old veteran from Donetsk.
As Zelensky arrives in Washington, the stakes could hardly be higher. With the war grinding on and the specter of territorial compromise looming, Ukraine faces pressure from allies abroad and exhaustion at home. Whether peace comes through compromise or resistance remains an open—and perilous—question.
