Ukraine will not agree to cede territory to Russia. That’s what the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists.

The statement was made on Monday, as Zelensky is on his way from London to Brussels to meet with EU leaders. In the British capital, he has just met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss the continued support for Ukraine.

“According to our laws, according to international laws, under the laws of morality, we do not have the right to give away anything,” Zelensky told journalists aboard the plane, writes Washington post.

Wants a ceasefire

Last month, US President Donald Trump proposed a peace plan for Ukraine with 28 points. According to it, the oblasts of Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk should be recognized as de facto Russian, while the front in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia should be “frozen” along the contact line with a de facto recognition along this line.

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However, Ukraine, like the EU, does not want to see any such recognitions. Instead of a peace treaty, a ceasefire without recognition of any occupied territories such as Russian is advocated.

On the other hand, Russia prefers a peace treaty over a ceasefire. The Kremlin government fears, not least, that Ukraine could use a ceasefire to, with the support of the EU and possibly the US, rearm, and then continue the war with renewed strength.

This would mean that Russia risks losing the military advantage it currently has in the war. Last month, Russian troops captured over 500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, according to the Ukrainian osint channel Deepstate. That’s about twice as much as the month before.