US summit in Alaska a 'personal victory' for Putin, Zelensky says

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had scored a “personal victory” by getting invited to talks with Donald Trump on US soil, and that the meeting further delayed sanctions on Moscow.

Zelensky also ruled out withdrawing troops from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal, after Trump suggested he and Putin might negotiate a land swap to end the war.

The summit, set to take place in Alaska on Friday, will be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since 2021 and comes as Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia’s nearly three-and-a-half year war in Ukraine.

Zelensky, who is not scheduled to take part, has expressed concern that Russia will put forward hard-line demands and that Trump will hammer out a deal that will demand Ukraine cede swathes of territory.

“We will not withdraw from the Donbas… if we withdraw from the Donbas today – our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control – we will clearly open a bridgehead for the Russians to prepare an offensive,” Zelensky told reporters.

The Donbas encompasses the eastern Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, both of which Russia claims as its own and has sought to control since its invasion began in 2022.

Zelensky said Friday’s summit would effectively postpone new US sanctions on Russia – sanctions that Trump had promised to impose if Putin refused to halt his war.

“First, he will meet on US territory, which I consider his personal victory. Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on US territory. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed sanctions,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky also said he had received a “signal” from US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia might agree to a ceasefire, without elaborating.

“This was the first signal from them,” Zelensky said.

To prepare for the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a call with US counterpart Marco Rubio, who told a US radio show earlier that Trump did not regard the meeting as a “concession” to Russia.

The White House, meanwhile, confirmed that the meeting came about after Putin requested it.

Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the aim was “for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war”.