While Donald Trump spoke of “exchanges of territories” necessary between Russia and Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky assured that his armed forces will remain in Donbass.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the planned meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on Friday was a “Personal victory” For the Russian leader, while stressing that kyiv excluded any withdrawal from his forces in eastern Ukraine as part of a possible peace agreement. Addressing the press from Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has also confirmed that “groups” Russian soldiers had managed to advance by about 10 kilometers in certain sectors of the front, but assured that they would be destroyed.
These advances raise fears of a favorable breakthrough in the Kremlin before the highly anticipated summit between Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, in Alaska, to discuss a possible settlement of the conflict. One of the solutions mentioned by Washington, without further details, would be an exchange of territories between the two countries. A proposal swept by kyiv and its European allies. Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that this coming of Vladimir Putin in the United States, isolated from the Western world since its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was already one «victoire» For the head of the Kremlin.
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“He (Putin) will have a meeting on American territory, which is, I think, for him a personal victory”said Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that this meeting made Vladimir Putin out of his “isolation” And delayed possible new American sanctions against Moscow. The Ukrainian leader dismissed any withdrawal from his troops in eastern Ukraine as part of an agreement with Moscow under American mediation. “We will not withdraw from Donbass (which includes the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lougansk, editor’s note)”said Volodymyr Zelensky, believing that if this territory fell under the control of Moscow, it would then serve as a springboard at the Kremlin for a «offensive future» against Ukraine.
“There will be territory exchanges”
Before his return to the White House, the American president had boasted of being able to put an end to three years of Russian invasion in “24 hours”. But his ambitions were showered by the failure of three cycles of peace talks between kyiv and Moscow recently organized in Türkiye. At this stage, Moscow claims that Ukraine gives him four partially occupied regions (Donetsk, Lougansk, Zaporijjia and Kherson), in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014, and that it renounces Western arms deliveries and a membership in NATO. Unacceptable requirements for kyiv, who wants the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory and Western security guarantees, including the pursuit of arms deliveries and the deployment of a European contingent, to which Moscow is opposed.
The meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will take place a priori without Volodymyr Zelensky, arousing concerns about the possibility that an agreement concluded without Ukraine, forcing it to give in Russia portions of its territory. Donald Trump said on Monday on Monday “upset” By the refusal, signified by kyiv, to sell territories. “Because there will be exchanges of territories”he insisted. Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders must meet Wednesday with Donald Trump. Europe has further increased its military aid to Ukraine in May and June, unlike the United States, and is increasingly based on its defense industry rather than existing armaments, the German Research Institute Kiel Institute said on Tuesday.
The Russian army is progressing
On the front, the fighting continues to rage. This conflict, the worst in Europe since the Second World War, caused tens of thousands of dead and wounded, even hundreds of thousands. Russian troops, more numerous and better equipped, continue to nibble on the ground. In recent hours, they have advanced several kilometers in a strategic sector in the Donetsk region, northeast of the city of Pokrovsk, according to the Ukrainian army and analysts.
Volodymyr Zelensky assured Tuesday that the “groups” Russian soldiers who had advanced about 10 kilometers in this part of the front, “Have no (heavy) equipment, only their weapons in their hands”. Some have been destroyed, others taken prisoner. “We will find the others and destroy them soon”he said. According to Volodymyr Zelensky, these attacks aim to distribute “The story” what “Russia advances” and that “Ukraine loses” Before the Putin-Trump meeting. He also said that Moscow was preparing to “New offensive operations” In three sectors on the front, “Zaporijjia, Pokrovsk et Novopavlivka”.