Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued refusal to accept the ceasefire complicates efforts to end the nearly three-year war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Saturday.
Zelenskiy made the remarks a day after the high-stake summit held between Donald Trump and Putin in Alaska, which ended with Russia demanding that Ukraine cede control of its eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in exchange for a ceasefire, according to media reports. The hours-long closed-door summit to which Zelenskiy had not been invited did not yield any ceasefire agreement. "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly,” Trump had told reporters before the hastily-organized Alaska meeting. However, Trump later shifted his stance over the ceasefire, writing in a post on Truth Social hours after the meeting that a final peace agreement was needed rather than a temporary truce that does not hold. After the summit, Trump also told Fox Nexs that he recommends that Ukraine “make the deal”. Zelenskiy has repeatedly ruled out ceding any land to Russia, saying doing so runs counter to his country’s constitution.
Zeleneskiy will be visiting Washington on Monday for a meeting with Trump. Leaders of UK, Germany, France, Italy and Finland, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will join Zelenskiy in the Oval Office.
"The talks will address, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues and continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression This includes maintaining the pressure of sanctions,” Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz's office said in a statement.
On Sunday, Trump’s special Envoy Steve Witkoff revealed that during the Alaska summit, Putin agreed to make concessions over Ukraine’s NATO-like security, something the Kremlin had vehemently opposed before. In an interview with the CNN, Witkkoff said Putin agreed that the US and the EU give Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s article 5, under which an attack on one member is an attack on all.
