KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday dismissed the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning that any peace deal excluding Kyiv would lead to “dead solutions.”
The Trump-Putin meeting, scheduled for Friday in Alaska, is seen as a potential breakthrough in the more than three-year war.
Trump had previously agreed to meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy, stoking fears Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.
In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s territorial integrity, enshrined in the constitution, must be nonnegotiable, and emphasized that lasting peace must include Ukraine’s voice at the table.
If Putin gains parts of Ukraine, the war will not end. It means he succeeded in the war; that the west is weak. Which in turn means the war will “end” as in Russia will just regroup and build it’s war resources for a while - maybe some years, maybe more, maybe less - and then attack somewhere again. Why would they stop? Russian imperialism is not based on logic or reason; it was insane to attack Ukraine in the first place.
It is pointless to expect Putin to be somehow reasonable or actively want to stop warring. It is also completely pointless to believe whatever he or his lackeys say, they’ve lied from every step on the way and will continue to do so for their own benefit. It’s very likely the war will continue whatever the result in Ukraine is anyway, it can only be postponed now that Russia has again started on this damned path. If Putin gains land, they won and it’ll continue; if they don’t gain anything, Putin needs to attack again to prove it wasn’t a loss. I cannot believe people still seem to think you can somehow just reason with Russia
Its not about land, it’s about security guarantees. Ukraine doesn’t really need the lands in question and Russia don’t really want it. Ukraine wins with security guarantees and Russia won’t allow it, because that means they are not a super power and cannot project power not even to a neighboring country.
Sure the pieces of land don’t matter to but the ukrainians, but if Putin gains anything it’ll signal to his own that he won and that attacking works. At this point any security guarantees mean basically nothing since the west has shown such a weak response, and Putin will just challenge the promises the moment he has the opportunity. Seeing how USA and western Europe still don’t seem to fully understand the situation, it’s easy to believe Ukraine can’t trust any guarantees given unless it’s something like straight up joining NATO, which isn’t on the table.
Yes, security guarantees such as something similar to NATO or US and EU forces at the border. That is a security guarantee. Nothing else would do. That’s obvious.
Ukraine would give land for that. The point is, Russia doesn’t want or need the land. They want to project power, not gain 0.05% to the territory they already have.