Zelensky says Ukraine won’t give up Donbas region to Russia

KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will not cede the eastern region of Donbas to Russia and pushed for Kyiv to be included in talks as the US and Russian leaders prepare to meet on Aug 15.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that together form Donbas as a condition to unlock a ceasefire and enter negotiations over a longer-term peace accord. 

But such a decision would require Mr Zelensky to order troops to withdraw from 9,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory, handing Moscow a victory that its army could not achieve militarily for more than a decade. 

“For Russians, Donbas is a bridgehead for a future new offensive,” Mr Zelensky told reporters on Aug 12 in Kyiv. “Any territorial issues cannot be separated from security guarantees.”

US and Russian officials were working towards an agreement on Ukrainian territories for a summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and Mr Putin in Alaska, Bloomberg News reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ukraine and its European allies have been pushing for a halt to the fighting and freezing the current front line as a first step before talks on a more enduring settlement.

Mr Trump on Aug 11 downplayed expectations for his meeting with Mr Putin, casting it as a “feel-out meeting” and saying he would confer with Ukrainian and European leaders after the sit-down.

The US President, who pledged to end the war quickly after taking office, said he expected to either outline to them the contours of a deal that included land swops negotiated with Mr Putin, or that he did not believe a peace deal could be brokered.

“I don’t know what will be discussed without us, they have probably a bilateral track,” said Mr Zelensky, who was not invited to the summit. “The Ukrainian issue must be discussed by three sides at least.” 

Europe should be also part of the talks as Ukraine wants to join the European Union (EU), he added. 

Mr Zelensky, along with the leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland and Finland, will hold a call with Mr Trump and US Vice-President J.D. Vance on Aug 13 ahead of the summit with Mr Putin.

EU leaders said this week that any peace agreement must “respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity”, adding that international borders must not be changed by force.

Demanding concessions

Russia has stepped up its air strikes on Ukraine in recent months and its army is advancing in Ukraine’s eastern regions in a slow, grinding war.

Mr Zelensky said Moscow wants to create a narrative that “Russia’s advancing and Ukraine’s losing” ahead of the Alaska summit. 

“In this month, they will try to demonstrate advances in all directions to politically press Ukraine, demanding concessions,” Mr Zelensky said. “We understand this and our army is preparing for this.”

The Ukrainian President said Russia is gearing up for a new military offensive after Aug 15 by relocating about 30,000 troops to Ukraine’s southern region of Zaporizhzhia and the Donetsk region from Ukraine’s northern Sumy region. 

“We think they will be ready with those brigades before September,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that additional Russian troops may be ready in November. 

Ukraine still is outnumbered by Russian artillery at a ratio of 1:2.4, he said.

But it has the advantage of first-person view (FPV) drones, which allow pilots to monitor the battlefield in real time, at a ratio of 2.4:1 that can increase to 2.5:1 if allies help finance production, Mr Zelensky added. 

Kyiv has also agreed with the US to purchase American weapons worth US$1 billion (S$1.28 billion) to US$1.5 billion a month. 

“Tomorrow, we will speak with the Europeans and the US side,” Mr Zelensky said. “I will deliver a message that all sensitive issues about Ukraine must be discussed in the presence of Ukraine.” BLOOMBERG