KYIV REJECTS CEDING TERRITORY
Zelenskyy, Europe say country must be included in peace talks
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the parliament session July 17 in Kyiv.
A Ukrainian National Guard service member applies a tourniquet to his comrade Friday during training near the front line.
Trump
Putin
Relatives and soldiers of the Azov Regiment pay last respects Saturday near the coffin of their comrade, Georgian volunteer Mykhailo Kovaliv, during a farewell ceremony on Independence Square in Kyiv.
A Ukrainian national guard service member prepares a Penguin drone for flight Wednesday near the front line.
UKRAINE WAR
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday rejected the idea that his country would give up land to end the war with Russia after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested a peace deal could include "some swapping of territories."
Zelenskyy said Ukraine "will not give Russia any awards for what it has done" and "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier."
Later Saturday, European and Ukrainian officials met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in England to discuss how to end the more than three-year war. The talks came after Trump said he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy.
Representatives from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland attended the meeting in Kent, Zelenskyy said in a social media post, calling the talks constructive.
"I have not heard any partners express doubts about America's ability to ensure that the war ends," he said. "The President of the United States has the levers and the determination."
Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy dismissed the planned Trump-Putin summit, scheduled for Friday in Alaska, warning that negotiations to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War II must include Kyiv. In a statement posted to Telegram, he said Ukraine's territorial integrity, enshrined in the constitution, must be nonnegotiable.
Ukrainian officials previously told The Associated Press privately that Kyiv would be amenable to a peace deal that would de facto recognize Ukraine's inability to regain lost territories militarily.
Russia invaded its western neighbor in February 2022, leading to tens of thousands of deaths.
There's no guarantee the summit will stop the fighting, since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace.
"It seems entirely logical for our delegation to fly across the Bering Strait simply, and for such an important and anticipated summit of the leaders of the two countries to be held in Alaska," Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Saturday in a statement posted to the Kremlin's news channel.
The president of the European Union and leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland and the U.K. issued a joint statement late Saturday in support of Ukraine and ending the war. "We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed," it said.
In his comments Friday to reporters at the White House, Trump gave no details on the "swapping of territories." Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, suggested Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims it annexed.
Trump said his meeting with Putin would come before any sit-down discussion involving Zelenskyy. His announcement that he planned to host one of America's adversaries on U.S. soil broke with expectations that they'd meet in a third country. The gesture gives Putin validation after the U.S. and its allies long sought to make him a pariah over his war against Ukraine.
Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the AP that the "symbology" of holding the summit in Alaska was clear, and the location "naturally favors Russia."
"It's easy to imagine Putin making the point. … We once had this territory and we gave it to you, therefore Ukraine had this territory and now should give it to us," he said, referring to the 1867 transaction known as the Alaska Purchase, when Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million.
On the streets of Kyiv, reactions to the idea of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia ranged from skepticism to quiet resignation.
"It may not be capitulation, but it would be a loss," said pensioner Ihor Usatenko, 67, who noted he would consider ceding territory "on condition for compensation and, possibly, some reparations."
Anastasia Yemelianova, 31, as torn. "Honestly, I have two answers to that question. The first is as a person who loves her country. I don't want to compromise within myself," she said. "But seeing all these deaths and knowing that my mother is now living in Nikopol under shelling and my father is fighting, I want all this to end as soon as possible."
Others, like Svitlana Dobrynska, whose son died fighting, rejected outright concessions but supported halting combat to save lives.
"We don't have the opportunity to launch an offensive to recapture our territories," the 57-year-old pensioner said, "But to prevent people from dying, we can simply stop military operations, sign some kind of agreement, but not give up our territories."
Exasperated that Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Trump moved up an ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement.
The deadline was Friday, but the White House did not answer questions Saturday about possible sanctions.
The Kremlin's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor as it bombards Ukrainian cities.
On Saturday, two people died and 16 were wounded when a Russian drone hit a minibus in the suburbs of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said. Two others died after a Russian drone struck their car in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov.
Ukraine's air force said it intercepted 16 of the 47 Russian drones launched overnight, while 31 drones hit targets across 15 different locations. It also said it shot down one of two missiles
Russia deployed. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 97 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight and 21 more Saturday morning.
