Volodymyr Zelenskyy: No Ukrainian Land to Vladimir Putin, War Must End Fairly

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the international community today (April 29, 2025) not to ‘give away’ any Ukrainian territory to Vladimir Putin. These statements by Zelenskyy are seen as a message to the U.S., which is considering giving Crimea to Putin to end the war in Ukraine. According to reports, proposals from the Trump administration for a peaceful resolution of the war include formal U.S. recognition of Russian control over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed and occupied by Moscow in 2014, along with de facto recognition of areas in southern and eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow’s forces. ‘We all want this war to end fairly, without giving anything to Putin, especially not land,’ Zelenskyy said at a regional summit. Russia partially occupies four regions in southern and eastern Ukraine—Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—which it unilaterally annexed in 2022 through referendums condemned by Kyiv and the West as mock votes. In 2014, Moscow also unilaterally annexed Crimea through a similar referendum following military intervention. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated on Monday that international recognition of these annexations is a ‘necessary’ prerequisite for ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022. Zelenskyy has repeatedly declared in recent days that such Russian recognition is unacceptable to Kyiv. Trump said Sunday that the Ukrainian leader’s stance on this issue could change.