Zelensky refuses to cede Donbas, says doing so would give Putin ‘springboard’ for future offensives

By Victoria Butenko and Lauren Kent, CNN

(CNN) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Tuesday not to give eastern Ukrainian land to Russia, saying that abandoning the Donbas region would open the door for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “start a third war” in Ukraine.

Zelensky’s warning comes ahead of Putin’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, where the Russian president is expected to demand Ukrainian land as part of a peace deal.

While there is confusion over Putin’s reported conditions for a ceasefire, most versions stress that the Russian president will demand that Ukrainian forces withdraw from all parts of Ukraine’s Donbas, which includes parts of the Donetsk region it still holds.

“For the Russians, Donbas is a springboard for a future new offensive. If we leave Donbas of our own accord or under pressure, we will start a third war,” Zelensky said in a meeting with journalists. Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, and went on to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“I am not going to surrender my country because I have no right to do so,” he added. “If we leave Donbas today, our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control, we will clearly open a bridgehead for the preparation of a Russian offensive.”

Zelensky and Ukrainian military officials have warned that Russia is building up troops for a new offensive, ready to launch by September.

“I haven’t heard anything — not a single proposal that would guarantee that a new war won’t start tomorrow and that Putin won’t try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv,” the Ukrainian president told reporters.

“The exchange of territories is a very complex issue that cannot be separated from security guarantees for Ukraine, for our sovereign state and our people,” Zelensky added, noting that the European Union’s involvement in peace talks is also crucial because “no one except Europe is giving us security guarantees.”

A conversation between the US, Ukraine and “all of Europe” will take place on Wednesday, according to the Ukrainian president.

Trump has signaled Zelensky would not participate in Friday’s summit, though the US president previewed his plans to phone Kyiv immediately after the meeting, along with other European leaders, to brief them.

Trump said his goal is ultimately to get Putin and Zelensky in the same room to hash out their differences, and surmised only they would be able to find a way to end the war with some “land swapping” between them.

“I’m not going to make a deal,” Trump said. “It’s not up to me to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both.”

The White House on Tuesday characterized the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin in Anchorage as a “listening exercise.”

“Only one party that’s involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins whether the two presidents would meet one-on-one, Leavitt said that is “part of the plan.”

Zelensky also gave further details on Tuesday about the diplomatic talks that have been taking place behind the scenes, as well as his take on the outcome of US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Putin.

“Witkoff said that there should be territorial concessions on both sides. That’s how it sounded. And that Putin probably wants us to leave Donbas. So it didn’t sound like America wants us to leave,” Zelensky said. “I do not believe that Putin’s proposal is Trump’s proposal. I believe that Trump represents the United States of America. He acts as a mediator, he is in the middle – not on Russia’s side.”

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CNN’s Betsy Klein and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.