Zelensky rules out giving up land

FE Team | Published: December 09, 2025 21:00:12 | Updated: December 10, 2025 14:02:44

KYIV, Dec 09 (BBC): Ukraine is preparing to present a revised peace plan to the White House, as it seeks to avoid making territorial concessions to Russia.
Kyiv is set to propose alternatives after President Volodymyr Zelensky again ruled out surrendering land, saying he had "no right" to do so under Ukrainian or international law.
He made the comments after meeting European and Nato leaders on Monday, part of a push to deter the US from backing a peace deal which includes major concessions for Ukraine, and which allies fear would leave it vulnerable to a future invasion.
The Ukrainian president told a news conference his team could send a new proposal to the Americans as soon as Tuesday, AFP news agency reported.
Meanwhile, the city of Sumy in north-west Ukraine was left without power overnight after a Russian drone attack.
The region's governor said more than a dozen drones had hit power infrastructure, the latest in Russia's nightly attacks. Authorities are checking for casualties.
Elsewhere, the death toll from one of Russia's deadliest attacks in the Ternopil region continued to rise. Ternopil's police chief said two more bodies had been found following a Russian missile strike on the west Ukrainian city last month, taking the total fatalities to 38, including eight children.
Zelensky's ongoing diplomatic tour of Europe comes after days of intensive talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend failed to produce a deal to which Kyiv could agree.
Zelensky was due to be briefed on that private summit on Monday by his chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, who wrote on Telegram that he would feed back details of direct talks between the US and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
European leaders walk tightrope between backing Ukraine and keeping US on board
On the subject of surrendering land, Zelensky said: "Russia is insisting that we give up territories, but we don't want to cede anything."
He continued: "We have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don't have any moral right either."
Zelensky has long maintained that any changes to Ukraine's borders would need to be authorised by a public referendum.
On Tuesday, Russia's chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, said the country's forces were advancing along Ukraine's front line and were targeting Myrnohrad, close to the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.
Russia claims to have captured Pokrovsk, which would nudge Putin closer to taking full control of Ukraine's Donbas, made up of the neighbouring regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.