Ukraine Prepared to Cede Territory Held by Russia

“The plan can only be related to the current positions held by the militaries,” a Western official said, characterising a frantic weekend of diplomacy between Kyiv and its allies.

“I have many fears and a lot of hope,” Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said on Monday. He added that US officials had pledged to consult European leaders ahead of the face-to-face talks between Trump and Putin.

European capitals have opted to back Kyiv’s vision for any territorial swaps in an attempt to convince Trump that there is diplomatic weight behind a single “Ukraine plus Europe” red line that rejects concessions for Ukrainian-held land.

“Europeans now understand their role as supportive of Ukraine in terms of the diplomatic negotiations,” said the Western official. “It’s a boost for morale, it’s also strengthening the diplomatic positions of Ukraine so that it doesn’t feel alone.”

“For Poland and our partners, it is clear that state borders cannot be changed by force,” Tusk said at a news conference on Monday. “Russia’s war with Ukraine must not bring benefits to the aggressor.”

France’s Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, of Germany, issued similar statements in support of a hardline approach to territorial concessions over the weekend.

A joint declaration by the leaders of the European Commission, France, Italy, the UK, Poland, and Finland said that “the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations”.

Trump criticised his Ukrainian counterpart over the rejection of concessions, saying on Monday: “I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval’. I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?”

Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, described the decision as a challenge of “how to deal with the factual situation that the Russians are holding, at this moment, Ukrainian territory”.

“Crucially important here is that when it comes to this holding of Ukrainian territory, that there might be a factual situation that they are doing this, but that we can never accept that in a legal sense, in, as this is called, a de jure sense,” he told CBS.

“A part of Ukraine has to be on the table, that any discussion going forward from there will be with Ukrainians deciding on what they want to do in terms.”

In a phone call on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer and Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, welcomed the peace efforts but warned against a deal being “imposed” upon Ukraine.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “They discussed their unwavering support for Ukraine and ongoing work to stop the killing and end Russia’s war of aggression. Both leaders underscored that Ukraine’s future must be one of freedom, sovereignty and self-determination.

“They welcomed continued international efforts, led by President Trump, to bring peace and agreed that this must be built with Ukraine – not imposed upon it. Both leaders agreed they would continue to work closely with President Trump and President Zelensky over the coming days. They agreed to stay in touch.”