Trump has said he is looking for a peace deal that would involve "some swapping of territories," and there have been reports that one thing Putin wants from Trump is some kind of commitment by Kyiv to relinquish the Donbas region still under Ukrainian control. Alarm has spread over what Zelensky cautioned could create a precedent for Russian invasions as Moscow advances on the battlefield.
Military Developments and Diplomatic Concerns
Luhansk and Donetsk, on the other hand, were invaded by Russia on a full scale in February 2022 and are now controlled by Russia for nearly the entirety of Luhansk, about 70% of Donetsk. Russian troops have launched a summer offensive in eastern Ukraine, where they raced at breakneck speed 10 km toward the town of Dobropillia. Although he was trying to minimise the importance of this progress, Zelensky said that Russia wanted to show a "positive image" just before the meeting between Putin and Trump, making it look like Ukraine is losing the fight.
Zelensky repeated that Ukraine would never agree to give up Donbas and stressed that any change in territory requires a referendum according to the Ukrainian constitution. Forcefully, he has also noted that Ukrainians will not "gift their land to the occupier."
Summit Expectations and International Reactions
Trump stirred fears in Kyiv and across Europe with comments last week that seemed to suggest Russia had a special license to redraft borders by force, denouncing as "totalitarian" the criticism his remarks provoked. Moscow now dominates less than 20 % of the total territory of Ukraine.
The White House has told US media the Alaska talks are a "listening exercise" for Trump and that meeting Putin face-to-face would give him a sense of how to finish the conflict. While Trump was initially optimistic that the talks would lead to peace, he has since dialled back those expectations and called the summit a "get-to-know-you kind of situation." Mr. Zelensky has countered that any agreements made without Ukraine "are going to be dead decisions.
