Kyiv stands firm, Zelensky vows to hold land as US‑Russia confirm summit
Ukraine Urges Inclusion in Russian‑American Summit
President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Saturday that Kyiv would not cede land to Moscow, hours after Washington and Moscow scheduled a summit aimed at ending the three‑year conflict.
Alaska Summit Dates and Purpose
- Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will convene in Alaska on August 15 to negotiate territorial swaps between the U.S. and Russia.
- Trump announced the meeting, stating that “territorial swaps will benefit both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing additional details.
Zelensky’s Stance on Negotiations
“Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,” Zelensky declared on social media.
“Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace.” He added that the war “cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine.”
Negotiation History and Current Situation
- Three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to yield results.
- It remains unclear whether a summit will bring peace any closer.
Background and Context
- Since Russia’s full‑scale invasion in February 2022, tens of thousands have been killed and millions have been forced to flee.
- Putin has resisted multiple calls from the U.S., Europe, and Kyiv for a ceasefire.
Future Prospects and Additional Measures
- Zelensky said Kyiv was “ready for real decisions that can bring peace” but called for a “dignified peace,” without giving details.
- The former KGB officer in power for over 25 years has ruled out holding talks with Zelensky at this stage.
- Ukraine’s leadership has pushed for a three‑way summit and repeatedly stated that meeting Putin is the only way to progress toward peace.
Alaska’s Significance
- The summit in Alaska, a territory Russia sold to the U.S. in 1867, would be the first between sitting U.S. and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.
- It is the first such meeting after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.
Zelensky described the location as “very far away from this war, which is raging on our land, against our people.”
The Kremlin said the choice was “logical” because the state close to the Arctic is on the border between the two countries, where their “economic interests intersect.”
Moscow has also invited Trump to pay a reciprocal visit to Russia later.
Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.
On Friday, Putin held a round of calls with allies, including China and India, in a diplomatic flurry ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.
The U.S. president has earlier imposed an additional tariff on India for buying Russia’s oil in a bid to nudge Moscow into talks. He also threatened to impose a similar tax on China, but so far has refrained from doing so.
Across the more than 1,000‑kilometre (600‑mile) frontline, Russia and Ukraine continued to drop dozens of drones on each other in an overnight exchange of attacks on Saturday. As a result of that, a bus carrying civilians was hit in Ukraine’s frontline city of Kherson, killing two people and wounding six.
