Zelensky rules out giving up land, Ukraine prepares new peace plan

Ukraine is preparing to submit a revised peace plan to the White House that would avoid making territorial concessions to Russia.

Kyiv will present an alternative to the United States after President Zelensky once again ruled out giving up the land, saying he had “no right” to do so under Ukrainian or international law.

He made the comments as he met with European and NATO leaders on Monday as part of a collective effort to block U.S. support for a peace deal that includes significant concessions to Ukraine that allies fear would leave it vulnerable to a future invasion.

Meanwhile, the city of Sumy in northwestern Ukraine was without power overnight after a Russian drone strike.

The region’s governor said more than a dozen drones struck power infrastructure, the latest in a series of nighttime attacks by Russia. No deaths were reported.

Zelensky’s Ongoing European Diplomatic Tour It comes after days of intensive talks between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend, but they failed to reach a deal that Kyiv could agree to.

Zelensky’s top aide Rustem Umerov will brief Zelensky on the private summit on Monday. Umerov wrote on Telegram that he will report back on the details of direct talks between the United States and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Agence France-Presse, the Ukrainian president told a news conference that his team could present a new proposal to the United States as early as Tuesday.

When it comes to giving up land, Zelensky said: “Russia insists that we give up territory, but we don’t want to give up anything.”

He continued: “We have no legal right to do this under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don’t have any moral right either.”

Zelensky has long insisted that any changes to Ukraine’s borders would need to be approved by a referendum.

Elsewhere, he told reporters that the US’s original 28-point plan had been cut to 20 points but was rejected by Kyiv and European leaders as too favorable to Russia, Ukraine’s Interfax news agency reported.

He said that no “pro-Ukrainian” views were deleted from the draft, although there was no “compromise” on territorial issues.

Zelensky noted that control of the eastern Donbas region and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is one of the “most sensitive” issues.

An initial leaked version of the U.S.-backed plan suggested Ukraine hand over full control of Donbass to Russia, even though Kremlin forces have been unable to fully capture the region after nearly four years of war.

The draft plan states that energy produced by the Zaporozh nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, will be distributed between Russia and Ukraine.

Leaders in Kyiv and across Europe said progress had been made in refining the draft in recent weeks and praised the Trump administration for seeking to mediate an end to the fighting.

But Monday’s hastily arranged Downing Street summit – attended by Zelensky, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz – was widely seen as support for Ukraine as it seeks to resist pressure from the White House.

No 10 said the two sides had reached an agreement that the US-led talks were a “crucial moment” to step up support for Ukraine and reiterated calls for a “just and lasting peace… that includes strong security guarantees”.

The nature of these future security guarantees is another unresolved issue in the negotiations.

Efforts continue to form an international coalition ready to provide ongoing military support to Kyiv in the event of a peace deal, although it is unclear what form that would take.

Although Britain and France have proposed deploying international troops in Ukraine, several major European defense countries, including Germany and Italy, have expressed skepticism about the idea.

It remains unclear to what extent the United States is willing to support Ukraine’s future defense arrangements.

After talks in London, Zelensky flew to Brussels to meet NATO chief Mark Rutte and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and will meet Prime Minister Georgia Meloni in Italy on Tuesday.

Moscow has also claimed that talks with the White House have been constructive, although there is little public indication that it has achieved any of the goals the Kremlin set when it launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

On Sunday, Trump said he viewed Zelensky as the main obstacle to a peace deal, which he has made a key foreign policy goal that the president claims he will be able to achieve quickly during his 2024 presidential campaign.

He told reporters that Russia was “fine” to the peace plan the United States had outlined to both sides, but that he was “a little disappointed that Zelensky didn’t read it.”

Almost simultaneously, Zelensky said he was awaiting a briefing from chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, who had just participated in three days of discussions with his American counterparts in Miami.

“Some issues can only be discussed in person,” Zelensky said.