Zelensky Declares Ukraine Will ‘Never Cede’ Occupied Territories to Russia, Suggests Trump Being Naive About Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday evening that Ukraine will “never cede” the occupied territories to Russia while expressing doubts about the Trump-led efforts to bring peace and suggesting the President is being deceived by Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to the French paper Le Figaro ahead of yet another summit in Paris, Zelensky once again appears to have been emboldened by European allies as they expressed a hardline position towards Moscow in the ongoing U.S.-led negotiations.

“One thing is certain: we will never cede our occupied territories to Russia. These lands belong to the Ukrainians,” Zelensky said.

“When will we get them back? Probably not right away. This may have to be done diplomatically. Diplomacy causes fewer victims,” he added.

Since the 2022 invasion, Russia has seized most of the territories in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, in addition to having taken over Crimea in 2014.

While Ukraine showed surprise early successes against the much larger Russian army, after three years, the initially mobile war soon descended into trench-like conditions and became relatively static. Since, Ukraine has failed to take back much more territory militarily, even at a high cost of lives. Yet, despite seemingly being in the weaker position, Zelensky and his European backers have demanded that Russia abandon the hard-won territories.

The Russians, for their part, try to assert these regions are rightfully theirs, noting that many in the areas are Russian speakers although, of course, by this stage most Ukrainian speakers will already have fled.

Ahead of peace talks in Riyadh earlier this week, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said that Ukraine’s, and indeed the rest of the world’s, willingness to acknowledge that it had lost the territories to Russia would be key to whether a peace settlement could be reached between Moscow and Kyiv.

The Ukrainians raged at Witkoff’s comments and demanded that President Trump sack his top envoy over the conflict. Continuing his doubtful stance towards the U.S. leader, with whom he infamously clashed in the White House last month, Zelensky suggested that Vladimir Putin and the Russians were conning Trump.

“Donald Trump tried to create good diplomatic relations with Russia. But this kind of method doesn’t work with a man like Putin… If Donald Trump eases sanctions against Russia, he will only deduce one thing: that he is a weak president and can therefore take the next step,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader accused Moscow of stalling during the negotiations, claiming that his side was willing to accept an unconditional ceasefire during the talks in Saudi Arabia, but that the Russians had laid out a list of preconditions, such as the lifting of economic sanctions.  This, Zelensky claimed, demonstrated that Vladimir Putin is not serious about seeking a peace settlement.

Zelensky went on to claim that “Putin is trying to buy time and that he is preparing for a spring offensive” and that Kyiv has shared “intelligence with our allies” about plans from Moscow to launch further attacks in the Sumy and the Kharkiv regions.

“[Putin] already wanted to launch this operation eight months ago, but we prevented him thanks to our intervention in Kursk. That’s why today he needs time,” he said.

Zelensky’s comments came ahead of another summit of European leaders in Paris on Thursday, during which they will further discuss the prospect of a British and European peacekeeping force being deployed to Ukraine in the event of a peace settlement.

In a press conference ahead of the talks, French President Macron announced an additional two billion euros in military aid to Kyiv, saying: “The goal is to keep Ukraine on its feet. France will continue its commitment, in consultation with its European partners and allies.”

The French president also demanded that Russia agree to a 30-day ceasefire “without preconditions”. This came as the European Union said that it would not lift its sanctions on Moscow unless the Russians retreat from “the entire territory” of Ukraine.

“The end of unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression in Ukraine and the unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire Ukrainian territory would be the main prerequisites for changing or lifting sanctions,” a Brussels spokesman said.

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