Russia complicating end to war, says Zelensky, as Trump pursues peace deal

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire is complicating efforts to end the war.

“We see that Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation,” the Ukrainian president said in a statement on X.

On Monday, Zelensky will travel to Washington DC, where US President Donald Trump has said he will urge the Ukrainian leader to agree to a peace deal.

Trump said he wants to bypass a ceasefire in Ukraine and move directly to a permanent peace agreement after his meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a major shift in position, the US president wrote on Truth Social following Friday’s summit that this would be “the best way to end the horrific war”, as ceasefires often “do not hold up”.

Following a phone call with Trump after the summit, Zelensky called for a real, lasting peace, while adding that “the fire must cease” and killings stop.

He later outlined Ukraine’s requirements for “a truly sustainable and reliable peace”, including a “credible security guarantee” and the return of children he says were “abducted from occupied territories” by Moscow.

Trump had said before the summit on Friday that he wanted a ceasefire “rapidly”, having threatened Russia with economic sanctions if one was not agreed.

Ukraine’s main demand has been a quick ceasefire before talks on a longer-term settlement, with Trump reportedly telling European leaders beforehand that his goal for the summit was to obtain a ceasefire deal.

Putin reportedly presented Trump with a peace offer that would require Ukraine withdrawing from the Donetsk region of the Donbas, in return for Russia freezing the front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Russia claims the Donbas as Russian territory, controlling most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk. It also illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Trump, who has previously said any peace deal would involve “some swapping of territories”, is said to have relayed the offer to Zelensky in their call following the summit.

Just days ago, Ukraine’s president ruled out ceding control of the Donbas – composed of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions – saying it could be used as a springboard for future Russian attacks.

The BBC’s US partner CBS has reported, citing diplomatic sources, that European officials were concerned Trump may try to pressure Zelensky into agreeing to terms that may have been discussed at Friday’s summit when they meet on Monday.

CBS quotes sources as saying that Trump had told European leaders that Putin would make “some concessions”, but failed to specify what they were.

In an interview with Fox News following the US-Russia summit in Alaska, Trump was asked what advice he had for the Ukrainian leader, to which he replied: “Make a deal.”

He added: “Russia’s a very big power and they’re not.”

Trump had previously threatened “very severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to end the war, last month setting a deadline for Moscow to reach a ceasefire or face tough new sanctions, including secondary tariffs on its allies.

But the two left Friday’s talks with no agreement reach, despite both insisting progress had been made.

On Saturday, Putin described the summit as “very useful” and said he had been able “set out our position” to Trump.

“We had the opportunity, which we did, to talk about the genesis, about the causes of this crisis,” the Russian president said. “It is the elimination of these root causes that should be the basis for settlement.”

A senior Russian diplomat later told BBC Newshour that the summit had been “a very important building block for further efforts” to end the war.

Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said that everybody who wanted peace “should be satisfied by the outcome”. He wouldn’t say if Putin should now meet Zelensky.

European leaders have reacted with caution to the outcome of the Trump-Putin meeting, seeking not to criticise the change of direction despite their long-held support for a ceasefire.

However, Trump notably said the US was prepared to provide security guarantees for Ukraine – a key request of Zelensky’s and the “coalition of the willing”, a group of nations, including the UK, France and Germany, that have pledged to protect peace in Ukraine once it is achieved.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called this “significant progress”.

The group will hold a call on Sunday afternoon before Zelensky visits the White House on Monday.

European leaders – including Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – said “the next step must now be further talks including President Zelensky”.

“It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory,” they said, adding: “International borders must not be changed by force.”

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer praised Trump’s efforts to end the war, saying they had “brought us closer than ever before”, but said the “path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without” Zelensky.

In Kyiv, Ukrainians have described feeling “crushed” by the scenes from Alaska.

“I understand that for negotiations you shake hands, you can’t just slap Putin in the face when he arrives,” Serhii Orlyk, a 50-year-old veteran from Donetsk, said.

“But this spectacle with the red carpet and the kneeling soldiers – it’s terrible, it makes no sense.”

Monday’s White House meeting will be Zelensky’s first since he was hectored by Trump and his Vice-President JD Vance in February.

They appeared to reconcile in April, in what the White House described as a “very productive” 15-minute meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.