“We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force,” the leaders stressed.
Trump said on Friday that there will be “some swapping of territories” as part of a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine, a proposition that was quickly rejected by Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv is “ready to work together with President Trump,” but any decisions made without Ukraine are “unworkable,” he added.
Ukraine and its allies have no doubts “about America’s ability to ensure that the war ends,” Zelenskyy said in a separate statement. “The President of the United States has the leverage and the determination.”
Under the proposal being floated by the Trump administration, the Kremlin would agree to a freeze of the war along the contact line in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russia controls less land than in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a person familiar with the matter told POLITICO. In return, Moscow would be allowed to keep the Donbas, said the person, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin last week and told Trump that the Russian president had presented the terms under which the Kremlin would agree to stop its military offensive in Ukraine, a White House official told POLITICO. The official declined to describe Russia’s terms, but Trump said land swaps between Russia and Ukraine are under discussion.