Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Won’t Give Up Donbas Region to Russia

Rep. Tim Burchett U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 2nd District/Republican, Member of Foreign Affairs, Oversight, Transportation Committees, joins to discuss the upcoming Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska as well as his thoughts on the Epstein files.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he won’t cede the eastern region of Donbas to Russia and pushed for Kyiv to be included in talks as the US and Russian leaders prepare to meet on Friday.

Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that together form Donbas as a condition to unlock a ceasefire and enter negotiations over a longer-term peace accord.

But such a decision would require Zelenskiy to order troops to withdraw from 9,000 square kilometers (3,474 square miles) of Ukrainian territory, handing Moscow a victory that its army couldn’t achieve militarily for more than a decade.

“For Russians, Donbas is a bridgehead for a future new offensive,” Zelenskiy told reporters on Tuesday in Kyiv. “Any of territorial issues cannot be separated from security guarantees.”

US and Russian officials were working toward an agreement on Ukrainian territories for a summit meeting between Donald Trump and Putin in Alaska, Bloomberg News reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter. Ukraine and its European allies have been pushing for a halt to the fighting and freezing the current frontline as a first step before talks on a more enduring settlement.

Trump on Monday downplayed expectations for his meeting with Putin, casting it as a “feel-out meeting” and saying he would confer with Ukrainian and European leaders after the sitdown. The US president, who pledged to end the war quickly after taking the office, said he expected to either outline to them the contours of a deal that included land swaps negotiated with Putin, or that he did not believe a peace deal could be brokered.

“I don’t know what will be discussed without us, they have probably a bilateral track,” said Zelenskiy, who wasn’t invited to the summit. “The Ukrainian issue must be discussed by three sides at least.”

Europe should be also part of the talks as Ukraine wants to join the European Union, he added.

Zelenskiy, along with the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Poland and Finland, will hold a call with Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday ahead of the summit with Putin. EU leaders said this week that any peace agreement must “respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity,” adding that international borders must not be changed by force.

A federal judge in New York denied a request by the Trump administration to release sealed grand jury materials in the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

The government failed to show any “special circumstances” justifying the unsealing of evidence presented to the two grand juries that indicted Maxwell, US District Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled Monday, criticizing the Justice Department’s highly publicized push to seek disclosure.

The Justice Department’s request came amid a controversy sparked by the Trump administration’s decision not to release documents that could reveal some of Epstein’s clients. In the wake of the backlash, Attorney General Pam Bondi asked courts in New York and Florida to unseal documents relating to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein for sex trafficking.

“Contrary to the government’s depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest,” Engelmayer said in a 31-page opinion. “Far from it. It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents.”

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the ruling.

A different New York federal judge is considering whether to release grand jury materials from the sex trafficking case. A US judge in Florida last month denied a Justice Department request to unsea

--------

Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube

Weekdays 7am-6pm ET

Follow us on X

Subscribe to our Podcasts:

Bloomberg Daybreak

Bloomberg Surveillance

Bloomberg Intelligence

Balance of Power

Bloomberg Businessweek

Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:

Apple CarPlay

Android Auto

Visit our YouTube channels:

Bloomberg Podcasts

Bloomberg Television

Bloomberg Originals