U.S. President Says Both Sides in Ukraine War Will Need to Cede Territory

Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that both Kyiv and Moscow would have to cede territory to end the war in Ukraine, adding that his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week would quickly reveal whether the Kremlin was willing to strike a deal.

European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy are expected to speak with President Trump ahead of his summit with Putin in Alaska on Friday, 15 August 2025, amid concerns that Washington could seek to impose peace terms unfavourable to Ukraine.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stressed on Monday the need for “transatlantic unity, support to Ukraine and pressure on Russia” to bring the war to an end and to “prevent future Russian aggression in Europe.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday. According to a Downing Street readout, the two leaders welcomed diplomatic efforts to secure peace but emphasised that it must be achieved in partnership with Ukraine, rather than imposed upon it.

Speaking at a White House press conference, President Trump described the upcoming meeting with President Putin as “really a feel-out meeting” and said he would know “probably in the first two minutes” whether progress was possible.

“I’m going to be telling him, ‘You’ve got to end this war,’” President Trump said. “I may leave and say, ‘Good luck.’ And that will be the end. Or I may say, ‘This is not going to be settled.’”

President Trump indicated that a future meeting could involve President Zelenskiy and reiterated that the U.S. goal was to achieve a swift ceasefire in the conflict, now in its fourth year. He has previously floated the idea of land swaps, though neither Russia nor Ukraine has expressed willingness to cede territory as part of a settlement.

“There’ll be some land swapping going on,” President Trump previously told reporters, adding: “I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine.” He acknowledged that Russia currently held “very prime territory” but said efforts would be made “to get some of that territory back.”

President Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said he had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, writing on X that lasting peace required “an unconditional ceasefire as a prerequisite for substantive negotiations.”

Kallas confirmed that the EU was preparing a 19th package of sanctions against Russia and cautioned against making concessions to Moscow.

“As long as Russia has not agreed to a full and unconditional ceasefire, we should not even discuss any concessions,” she said. “The sequencing of steps is important — first, an unconditional ceasefire with a strong monitoring system and ironclad security guarantees.”

Moscow claims sovereignty over four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – as well as Crimea, annexed in 2014. However, Russian forces do not fully control all of these territories and have demanded that Ukraine withdraw from areas it still holds.

Ukraine maintains a small presence in Russia’s Kursk region, which its forces entered a year ago to gain leverage in negotiations. Russia claims to have expelled Ukrainian troops from Kursk in April.



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