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Donald Trump expects Ukraine to surrender territory in any peace agreement
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Donald Trump has said he doesn’t think Ukraine will win the war against Russia, just hours after it emerged that the US president had demanded that Ukraine cede land to end the war.
“They could still win it, I don’t think they will,” the US president said during a meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.
“But they could still win it. I never said they would win it. I said they could win anything can happen,” he added.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio will hold a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said according to Russian state news agency RIA.
It comes ahead of a critical Trump-Putin meeting, which does not yet have a date.
On Sunday, it was reported that Donald Trump has told Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia’s terms or risk facing destruction in an explosive meeting in Washington DC on Friday.
Trump reportedly aside maps of the Ukrainian frontline, urging Zelensky to surrender the Donbas region to Russia, seemingly adopting points Vladimir Putin made to Trump in their call the day before.
Zelensky was said to bring Trump back to endorsing a freeze of the current front lines.
Putting UK boots on the ground after a Ukraine peace deal would cost “well over £100 million”, the defence secretary has said.
That cost would cover an entry package including the initial deployment of troops and aircraft and is a separate cost to the £4.5 billion in military aid allocated to Ukraine, it is understood.
During a speech in London, John Healey said the UK has been planning in detail along with its coalition of the willing partners over the last six months.
He said: “Peace is possible, and if President Trump can broker a peace, then we will be ready to help secure that peace for the long term.
“That requires us to invest and prepare our forces to be ready to deploy.
Volodymyr Zelensky has referred to his meeting with Donald Trump as a positive development despite him not getting an affirmative response on the supply of Tomahawk missiles.
“We share President Trump’s positive outlook if it leads to the end of the war,” Zelensky said.
“After many rounds of discussion over more than two hours with him and his team, his message, in my view, is positive – that we stand where we stand on the line of contact, provided all sides understand what is meant,” he said in comments to the media on Sunday.
The Ukrainian president was speaking before it emerged that Trump asked Zelensky to give up territory during their meeting.
“In my opinion, he does not want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them,” Zelensky said in his remarks about the meeting.
European troops are “ready to deploy” to Ukraine in the coming weeks if Vladimir Putin agrees to a ceasefire, defence secretary John Healey said.
“If President Trump can broker a peace then we will be ready to help secure that peace,” Healey said, answering a question on if troops could be deployed if a deal is reached in the next two weeks.
However, Ukrainians must be the “people who will decide how and what” is negotiated in any peace talks, he said.
A Ukrainian drone attack has hit one of the world’s largest gas plants, the Orenburg in Russia, impacting neighbouring country’s Kazakhstan production in the process.
The Orenburg was forced to halt its intake of gas from Kazakstan, according to the Kazakhstan’s energy ministry report on Sunday.
Production at Karachaganak oil and gas has been reduced by 25 to 30 per cent (down to between 25,000 and 28,000 metric tons) as a result , industry sources told Reuters on Monday.
Ukraine claimed responsibility for the gas plant attack, which took place approximately 1,700km east of the Russian border and at an oil refinery in the Samara region.
Kyiv has increased its attacks on Russian energy facilities since August in attempt to impede fuel supplies and funding in Moscow.
Orenburg might resume some gas intake from Karachaganak on Monday, sources said, but they declined to comment on when the supply levels would be restored to the normal level of 35,000-35,500.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has labelled his meeting with Donald Trump last Sunday a “success” making progress on new air defence systems, despite reports that Trump insulted him at The White House.
The meeting ended with Trump calling for a ceasefire with forces in place.
Zelensky on Monday described Trump’s message as “positive”.
Three sources confirmed that Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was tense and involved repeated profanities.
“It was pretty bad,” one of the sources said of the meeting. “The message was, ‘Your country will freeze, and your country will be destroyed'” if Ukraine doesn’t make a deal with Russia.
Previously Trump has said Ukraine must give up territory to make peace, but seems to have recently shifted his opinion. Last month he characterised Russia as a “paper tiger” and said Ukraine could potentially win back all its land.
Donald Trump said the idea of a Putin-Trump rail tunnel linking the US and Russia was “interesting” after it was floated by a Russian envoy late on Thursday night.
But when asked about it in Washington on Friday, Zelensky said “I’m not happy with this idea,” prompting laughter from the US side.
The idea envisions a rail tunnel built under the Bering Strait, connecting the two countries, and allowing for joint exploration of natural resources.
Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, suggested the idea after Trump’s call with Putin on Thursday.
“Imagine connecting the US and Russia, the Americas and the Afro-Eurasia with the Putin-Trump Tunnel – a 70-mile link symbolising unity,” he posted on X.
He suggested the project could be taken on by Elon Musk’s Boring Company, at a cost of $8bn (£6bn).
Defence minister, John Healey will announce on Monday that Britain is drafting new powers which will allow troops to shoot down unidentified drones above military bases, following a growing threat posed by Russia.
“Last month, we saw 19 drones cross the Polish border. Days later, Russian jets violated Estonia’s airspace, while at the same time, Russia mounted a concerted campaign to subvert Moldova’s election,” Healey will say, according to an excerpt of his speech shared with Reuters.
“As we speak, we are developing new powers – to be put into law through our Armed Forces Bill – to shoot down unidentified drones over UK military sites,” he will tell defence officials.
Ukraine cannot win its war with Russia and should negotiate peace terms with the Kremlin, according to Britain’s most senior army officer.
Field Marshal Lord Richards said Kyiv will not be able to drive Vladimir Putin’s soldiers out of Ukraine without the help of Nato forces – who won’t get involved on the ground.
Lord Richards, who was promoted to UK military’s most senior “five star” rank earlier this year and led Nato forces in during its troops surge in Afghanistan, said Ukraine’s allies have failed Kyiv.
“What we have done in the case of Ukraine is encourage Ukraine to fight, but not given them the means to win,’ the former chief of the defence staff told The Independent’s podcast World of Trouble.
Belarus is looking to “find a consensus” with Ukraine, after enduring diplomatic isolation for supporting Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Ivan Tertel, head of Belarus’ State Security Committee, said on Sunday that the country was ready to engage in dialogue with Ukraine.
“Our President works as much as possible in order to stabilize the situation in the region, and we’ve managed to balance interests of the parties in this extremely complicated situation with a tendency towards escalation,” he said on Belarus One state TV.
“I am convinced that only via quiet and calm negotiations, by looking for a compromise we will be able to resolve this situation”.
He added that “a lot depends on the Ukrainian side.”
French president Emmanuel Macron has confirmed news we earlier reported that Volodymyr Zelensky was due to attend a meeting of Ukraine’s allies known as the “coalition of the willing” in London on Friday,.
“This Friday, we will have a meeting of the coalition of the willing – partly virtual and partly in-person – in London, and President Zelensky will be there,” Mr Macron said on Monday, speaking to journalists in Slovenia.
The so-called “coalition of the willing” – put together by France and Britain in February – has held talks for months at various levels to try to define plans for what they could contribute militarily for Ukraine and to deter Russia from attacking it again once there is a final truce.
Mr Zelensky on Monday painted his meeting last week with President Trump as a success that yielded progress on acquiring new air defence systems, in contrast to other reports that Trump had berated him with obscenities in the White House.
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