Kyev: No!

After several days of intense negotiations between U.S. and Ukrainian officials that failed to reach an agreement acceptable to Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again ruled out the surrender of territory as an option.

He stated that he has no right to do so, neither under Ukrainian law nor international law.

However, as the BBC reports, in an effort to avoid territorial concessions to Russia, Ukraine is preparing to present a revised peace plan to the White House.

“Russia insists that we hand over territory, but we do not want to give up anything. We have no legal basis to do so—neither under Ukrainian law, nor the constitution, nor international law. We also have no moral right,” Zelensky said, adding that his team could send a new proposal to the Americans as early as Tuesday, according to the BBC.

On Monday, Zelensky met with several European officials as part of joint efforts to dissuade the U.S. from supporting a peace agreement that would include major Ukrainian concessions.

Additionally, allies fear that this could leave Ukraine vulnerable to a future invasion. Zelensky has long insisted that any change to Ukraine’s borders must be approved through a public referendum.

Regarding the U.S. 28-point plan, which Kyiv and European leaders rejected as too favorable to Russia, it has reportedly been reduced to 20 points.

Donbas and Zaporizhzhia

Zelensky highlighted control over eastern Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as the “most sensitive” issues.

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The original U.S. plan proposed that Ukraine hand over full control of Donbas to Russia, despite the fact that Russian forces have not fully captured the region after nearly four years of war.

Additionally, the energy produced by the largest nuclear power plant in Europe would be shared between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian and European officials indicated that progress has been made in recent weeks in refining the draft, and they also praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration for attempting to mediate an end to the fighting.

However, the Monday summit at Downing Street, attended by Zelensky along with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, was interpreted as a show of support for Ukraine as it resists pressure from the White House.