Zelensky Issues Defiant Three-Word Response to Trump-Putin Call
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Kyiv will not meet Vladimir Putin's request for Ukraine to withdraw troops from its four partially occupied regions, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
The Ukrainian leader said "it's our land," in a briefing to reporters on Monday, according to The Kyiv Independent on the day when the Russian president and U.S. President Donald Trump held a much-touted phone call.
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of humanitarian group Hope for Ukraine, told Newsweek Putin's ceasefire demands, which include Ukrainian forces leaving all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, were "impossible to meet."
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the media during a press briefing after his phone talks with the US president, in Kyiv, on May 19, 2025.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the media during a press briefing after his phone talks with the US president, in Kyiv, on May 19, 2025.Why It Matters
In September 2022, Moscow claimed to have annexed the four Ukrainian regions and to this day it does not fully control them. Putin illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Kyiv has repeatedly rejected any suggestion it would surrender the regions.
Zelensky's comment Monday reiterates what Kyiv considers untenable as Putin has not shifted from his maximalist goals. It shows a deal is far off despite Trump's optimism following his two-hour phone call with the Russian president.
What To Know
Trump and Putin held a phone call on Monday with the U.S. president saying he had agreed with his Russian counterpart that Moscow and Kyiv would immediately begin bilateral negotiations about both a ceasefire and a peace agreement.
Trump also said that he called Zelensky, and the leaders of Kyiv's European allies, suggesting that the Vatican could be a venue for talks.
Putin told journalists he and Trump agreed Russia would present Ukraine with a "memorandum" detailing conditions and timing for a future peace treaty.
This reiterates Kremlin rhetoric about eliminating the war's "root causes," which would include the current Ukrainian government being swapped with a Russian proxy and a declawing of its military.
Zelensky reaffirmed Ukraine's readiness for a full unconditional ceasefire as Trump had previously proposed and said Kyiv was ready for direct negotiations with Russia as long as it stopped protracting negotiations and failing to offer concessions.
But the Ukrainian president told a press briefing, "it's our land, we won't withdraw our troops from our territory" the Kyiv Independent reported. He added if Putin demands what he knows Kyiv won't agree to, "it means that they don't want peace."
Boyechko, from Hope for Ukraine, which provides aid to those in the war-torn country, told Newsweek that Kyiv has repeatedly said it would not surrender the four regions of Ukraine Moscow claims without a fight.
Nor would it agree to ceasefire terms that demanded the cessation of western weapons and restrictions on Ukraine's armed forces and their mobilization.
Boyechko said that this demand showed Putin's intention to push deeper into the country to get as close to Kyiv as possible and make a move for the Dnipro, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
Eric Lies, fellow of alliance strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI USA), told Newsweek that Putin has consistently slow rolled ceasefire talks, pressed for concessions and then skipped negotiations entirely.
This adds to the case for continued western military support to Ukraine while pushing for a ceasefire is key to securing meaningful stoppages in the fighting. "Until Putin is shown that he cannot continue fighting in Ukraine without unacceptable losses he won't stop fighting," Lies said.
What People Are Saying
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, per the Kyiv Independent: "It's our land, we won't withdraw our troops from our territory."
U.S. President Donald Trump: "I think something's going to happen. And if it doesn't, I just back away, and they're going to have to keep going."
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO and Founder of Hope for Ukraine: "Putin is coming in with two demands to Ukraine and Western allies that will be impossible to meet."
What Happens Next
Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the CATO institute, a Washington, DC think tank, said Putin has been reluctant to move forward on a short-term ceasefire without progress on creating a new security order in Europe.
With little movement of the front lines, Russia retains advantages over Ukraine that Western aid has not changed, he told Newsweek.
There will be anticipation over whether direct talks can be held at a third location, such as the Vatican, as Trump has suggested, and more importantly, whether this can shift the dial.
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