President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasizes that only concrete security guarantees can ensure the end of the war, and simply exchanging territory will not solve the problem, UkrInform reports. Donbas alone does not interest Russian ruler Vladimir Putin—he wants all the Ukraine.
The US administration has pressured Ukraine to cede the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk, without offering clear security guarantees should Putin attempt to launch another attack from that position.
At the same time, Russia has already rejected US President Donald Trump's proposition to stop at the current positions. According to the Washington Post, Moscow wants all of Donetsk and Luhansk—the full Donbas region. These areas include Ukrainian fortifications that have defended Ukraine from full-scale occupation for 11 years of war.
US pressure and Russian demands vs. the Ukrainian will
“The Russians’ position hasn’t changed. They want us out of Donbas—not the entire East, but specifically Donbas. They want all of Donetsk and Luhansk. I explained that Ukraine’s position remains unchanged,” Zelenskyy says.
The Ukrainian president notes that Russia will not care about the future of Ukrainian regions, as seen with Crimea.
“Did Crimea become a jewel? And there are no hostilities there. No, it did not. That speaks to their attitude,” Zelenskyy continues.
Security guarantees as the foundation for territorial negotiations
According to Zelenskyy, Putin wants to show that he has "won" the war, using the administrative boundaries of Donbas as proof.
“Who says he won’t go further in a few years? Who can guarantee that? That’s exactly how their system works in Russia—it keeps returning to war. So security guarantees have always been our number one priority,” the president stated.
He adds that Ukraine wants to end the war fairly and reliably. Earlier, regarding so-called territorial swaps, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is open to real solutions that could bring peace, but Ukrainians will not give away their land to invaders.
