'Negotiation can begin where the front line currently stands' — Zelensky says ahead of meeting with Trump
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 17 that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine should begin at the current front line, amid questions surrounding proposals of land swaps to end the war.
"We need real negotiations, and that means they can begin where the front line currently stands. The line of contact is the best line for negotiations," Zelensky wrote on social media following a meeting with members of the so-called "coalition of the willing."
Zelensky said that European leaders agreed with Kyiv's assessment for the basis of negotiations, adding that "Ukraine’s Constitution makes it impossible to give up territory or trade land."
Zelensky will travel to Washington on Aug. 18 for meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump for peace talks following Trump's meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian president will be joined by a number of European leaders, who have opposed negotiations on swapping territories between the U.S. and Russia without Kyiv's involvement.
Following his summit with Putin, Trump said that the two leaders had "largely agreed" on territorial swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine.
"I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on," Trump said in an interview with Fox News after the meeting. "I think we're pretty close to a deal," he added. "Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they'll say no."
A source in the Ukrainian Presidential Office earlier told the Kyiv Independent that Moscow's proposal would require Kyiv to withdraw from the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in exchange for a Russian pullback from parts of Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts.
Zelensky has firmly rejected the possibility of handing additional Ukrainian territory over to Russian occupation as part of a peace deal, insisting on establishing a ceasefire as the first step in any negotiations.
Publicly, Putin has demanded a ban on Ukraine's NATO membership and a full Ukrainian withdrawal from partially occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, among other conditions.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rebuffed Russia's expectations for a negotiated territory swap on Aug. 17 in an interview with NBC News.
"Ultimately, if the Ukrainians are not willing to give that up and no one is pushing Ukraine to give that up," Rubio said, referring to all the territories currently controlled by Moscow. "If there's going to be a peace deal, it's not going to look like that."
The Trump administration's Russia envoy, Steve Witkoff, echoed similar points in media interviews ahead of the Trump-Zelensky meeting.
"(President Trump) understands it is for the Ukrainians to decide how they might land swap, how they might make a deal with the Russians on different territories there," Witkoff told Fox News. "That's why Zelensky and the Europeans are coming to the White House to make a decision for themselves."
Zelensky once again called for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States to reach a peace deal following his talks with coalition of the willing members, reiterating that any deal must include a face-to-face meeting with Moscow.
"We continue to coordinate our joint positions," Zelensky said of his meeting with the coalition of the willing. "There is clear support for Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty. Everyone agrees that borders must not be changed by force," Zelensky concluded
