He also said it would be difficult to resettle the population and lift Ukraine’s constitutional ban on surrendering territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky allowed for the possibility of exchanging territories during negotiations with American President Donald Trump . This is reported by The Wall Street Journal .
As the newspaper notes, a US-prepared map of eastern Ukraine, which Trump and Zelensky reviewed, showed that the Donetsk region, which Russia wants and contains some of Ukraine’s most powerful defenses, is 76% under Moscow’s control.
At the same time, European leaders have tried to describe the significance of Ukraine’s territorial losses in terms that Trump can understand. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz compared Russia’s demand to hand over all of Donbas to the demand that the United States surrender Trump’s home state of Florida.
In turn, Finnish President Alexander Stubb called the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk “a bastion against the Huns,” and officials say that description apparently impressed Trump, the WSJ writes.
At the same time, the publication notes, Zelensky did not reject the exchange of territories during the negotiations, but pointed out the difficulties in this matter.
Zelensky… said it would be difficult to relocate the population and lift Ukraine’s constitutional ban on surrendering territory, officials said. But Zelensky said he might consider a “proportional swap,” the WSJ reported.
Trump and Zelensky meeting
After the meeting, the Ukrainian President stated that he would leave the territorial issue between himself and Putin and wanted their meeting to take place without any conditions.
He shared that at a meeting with the US President he argued with the percentages of occupied territories that were on the map, and noted that “no unacceptable decisions were made.”
Earlier, the FT reported that Kiev had rejected in Washington an offer from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that would have involved territorial concessions.
However, Ukraine has proposed buying US weapons worth $100 billion at Europe’s expense, as well as concluding a $50 billion deal to produce drones, in which Ukrainian companies will participate.
(C)UNIAN 2025
At the same time, European leaders have tried to describe the significance of Ukraine’s territorial losses in terms that Trump can understand.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz compared Russia’s demand to hand over all of Donbas to the demand that the United States surrender Trump’s home state of Florida.
In turn, Finnish President Alexander Stubb called the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk “a bastion against the Huns,” and officials say that description apparently impressed Trump, the WSJ writes.
This is funny: Western leaders must explain to the American ‘leader’ everything in children language………….what a disgrace…………
It was a powerful delegation; that achieved nothing. Instead of discussing what land to give to a genocidal nazi, here’s what should have been on the agenda :
1/ the return of all kidnapped children and full exchange of POW’s and political prisoners
2/ the imposition of swingeing secondary sanctions on the Graham-Blumenthal model
3/ how much in the way of weaponry do we need to send in order to enable a Ukrainian victory? (IMHO something like 500% of what they get now).
4/ the complete ban on russian travel to Europe and North America
The expulsion of all russians from those territories
5/ AOB.
We shouldn’t even be entertaining any swaps whatsoever, this will open up Pandora’s box. China will invade Taiwan, the US might even invade Greenland. No borders will be recognised and we will be back to the era of might is right.
How can we even think of land swaps with a genocidal society? They want us dead, and you think we can negotiate, not a chance
“no unacceptable decisions were made.”
It seems to me that in saying he might consider a proportional swap, and that “he would leave the territorial issue between himself and Putin and wanted their meeting to take place without any conditions,” he’s not committing to doing anything. He’s just avoiding saying “No” to a petulant toddler (trumpkov).