Ukraine declines to cede lands for peace.

Soon after President Trump had made the highly anticipated announcement on social media, saying  that the parties, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, were close to a ceasefire deal that could resolve the three and a half year conflict, one that could require Ukraine to surrender significant territory, President Zelensky has outrightly rejected the offer stating that Ukraine will not violate its constitution on the territorial issues, adding that “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupiers“.

In a video address to the nation posted on his Telegram channel on Saturday, Zelensky said that any decisions without Ukraine would be decisions against peace. “They will not achieve anything. These are stillborn decisions. They are unworkable decisions. And we all need real and genuine peace“, Zelensky said.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin had claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he had annexed in 2014, is not under the control of his forces, as they do not fully control all the territory in the four regions.

Ukraine has previously signaled a willingness to be flexible in the search for an end to a war that has ravaged its towns and cities and killed large numbers of its soldiers and citizens. But accepting the loss of around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory would be painful and politically challenging for Zelensky and his government.

Tyson Barker, the U.S. State Department’s former deputy special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery, said the peace proposal would be immediately rejected by the Ukrainians. “The best the Ukrainians can do is remain firm in their objections and their conditions for a negotiated settlement, while demonstrating their gratitude for American support“, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council. Under the putative deal, Russia would halt its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions along current battle lines.

The last time Alaska hosted a high-stakes diplomatic gathering was in March 2021, when senior officials from the administration of Democratic former President Joe Biden met with top Chinese officials in Anchorage. The get-together involving Biden’s top diplomat Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi quickly turned into a stunning public clash in front of the cameras, with both sides leveling sharp rebukes of the others’ policies that reflected the high tension in bilateral ties.

Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and sought to end the war. In his public comments he has veered between admiration and sharp criticism of Putin. In a sign of his growing frustration with Putin’s refusal to halt Russia’s military offensive, Trump had threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs from Friday against Moscow and countries that buy its exports unless the Russian leader agreed to end the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.

It is still unclear till Friday evening whether those sanctions would take effect or be delayed or canceled. The administration took a step toward punishing Moscow’s oil customers on Wednesday, imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India over its imports of Russian oil, marking the first financial penalty aimed at Russia in Trump’s second term.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday that both sides described as constructive. Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, a close ally of Ukraine, said earlier on Friday that a pause in the conflict could be close. He was speaking after talks with Zelensky.

“There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don’t want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict – is closer than it is further away. There are hopes for this“.

Tusk also said Zelensky was “very cautious but optimistic” and that Ukraine was keen that Poland and other European countries play a role in planning for a ceasefire and an eventual peace settlement.

Team Maverick