Zelenskyy refuses to cede land to Russia as he rallies European support
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffirmed his refusal to cede any territory, resisting US pressure for a compromise with Russia as he continued to rally European support for Ukraine.
“Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give up anything. That’s what we are fighting for,” Mr Zelenskyy said in a WhatsApp chat late on Monday in which he answered reporters’ questions.
“Do we consider ceding any territories? According to the law we don’t have such right. According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we don’t have a moral right either.”
The Ukrainian president met early on Tuesday with Pope Leo at Castel Gandolfo, a papal residence outside Rome, and is to have talks with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni later.
The Vatican said Leo had “reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just and lasting peace”.
The Holy See has tried to remain neutral in the war while offering solidarity and assistance to what it calls the “martyred” people of Ukraine.
Leo has now met three times with Mr Zelenskyy and has spoken by telephone at least once with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The American pope has called for a ceasefire and urged Russia in particular to make gestures to promote peace.
Mr Zelenskyy held talks on Monday in London with British prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz to strengthen Ukraine’s hand amid mounting impatience from US president Donald Trump.
US and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday aimed at trying to narrow differences on the American administration’s peace proposal.
A major sticking point in the plan is the suggestion that Kyiv must cede control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to Russia, which illegally occupies most but not all of the territory.
Ukraine and its European allies have firmly resisted the idea of handing over land.
In an exchange with reporters on Sunday night, Mr Trump appeared frustrated with Mr Zelenskyy, claiming the Ukrainian leader “hasn’t yet read the proposal”.
Mr Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Mr Zelenskyy since winning a second term, insisting the war was a waste of US taxpayers’ money.
Mr Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to end the nearly four-year conflict.
Mr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Mr Trump “certainly wants to end the war… Surely, he has his own vision. We live here, from within we see details and nuances, we perceive everything much deeper, because this is our motherland.”
He said the current US peace plan differed from earlier versions in that it now had 20 points, down from 28, after he said some “obvious anti-Ukrainian points were removed”.
Mr Starmer, Mr Macron and Mr Merz strongly backed Kyiv, with the Prime Minister saying on Monday that the push for peace was at a “critical stage”, and stressed the need for “a just and lasting ceasefire”.
Meanwhile, Mr Merz said he was “sceptical” about some details in documents released by the US.
“We have to talk about it. That’s why we are here,” he said.
“The coming days… could be a decisive time for all of us.”
European leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the US, to deter Russia from attacking again.
Mr Trump has not given explicit guarantees in public.
Mr Zelenskyy and his European allies have repeatedly accused Mr Putin of slow-walking the talks to press ahead with the invasion, as his forces are making slow but steady gains while waves of missiles and drones are pummelling Ukrainian infrastructure.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 110 drones of various types across the country last night. They said air defences neutralised 84 drones, 24 more had struck their targets.
Several regions of Ukraine faced emergency blackouts on Tuesday because of Russia’s prior attacks on energy infrastructure, according to Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo.
Ukraine, in its turn, continued its drone attacks on Russia.
Russian air defences destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight above various Russian regions and occupied Crimea, Russia’s ministry of defence said on Tuesday.
In Chuvashia, a region about 560 miles (900km) north-east of the border with Ukraine, the attack damaged residential buildings and injured nine people, local governor Oleg Nikolayev said in an online statement.
Ukraine’s security service carried out a drone attack on an LPG terminal at the port of Temryuk in Russia’s Krasnodar region on December 5, according to an official with knowledge of the operation who spoke to The Associated Press.
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