Washington appeared to be preparing Kyiv and Moscow for major compromises to end the long, bloody war ahead of a face-to-face meeting of the US and Russian presidents, with US Vice President JD Vance warning that any peace deal will likely leave both sides “unhappy.”
“It’s not going to make anybody super happy. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it,” Vance said in a Fox News interview broadcast on August 10.
The remarks came ahead of a scheduled August 15 meeting in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, a session that will mark a pause in the long international isolation of the Kremlin leader since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The talks come at a pivotal moment, with Trump increasingly frustrated with Putin and the Russian president showing no signs of bending on the Kremlin’s maximalist demands.
Trump in recent days has suggested that any resolution to the war could include “swapping of territories.”
“We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched,” Trump said at the White House on August 8. “There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow.”
Those remarks elicited vocal pushbacks from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kyiv’s European allies, who have expressed strong backing for Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity.
“The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post on August 10.
He added that Kyiv “values and fully supports” the statement of backing from its Western allies.
Zelenskyy, in a video address released earlier, warned that any peace deal excluding Kyiv or forcing the ceding of territory would not be acceptable.
“Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,” he said
“Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work,” Zelenskyy said.
In his nightly address on August 10, Zelenskyy said, “We understand Russia’s intention to try to deceive America — we will not allow this.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also expressed demands that any deal between Washington and Moscow to end the war must include Kyiv and the EU.
“The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,” Kallas said.
“International law is clear: All temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine,” Kallas said.
Kallas warned that “a deal must not provide a springboard for further Russian aggression against Ukraine, the transatlantic alliance and Europe.”
Kallas said she will convene a meeting of European foreign ministers on August 11 to discuss next steps.
European leaders welcomed Trump’s efforts to try to resolve the 41-month-old military conflict but emphasized the need to pressure Moscow and provide security guarantees for Kyiv.
A statement on August 9 by the British, French, Italian, German, Polish, Finnish, and European Commission leaders stressed that “only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine, and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.”
The European leaders also vowed to uphold their “substantive military and financial support to Ukraine,” adding that “Ukraine has the freedom of choice over its own destiny.”
In another statement released by Kyiv’s Western allies on August 10, the Nordic-Baltic 8 group voiced its support for Ukraine and said peace could only be brought about through increased pressure on Russia to stop its “unlawful” war.
The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden stated they “reaffirm the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.”
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed negotiators, on August 9 reported that European officials had presented a counterproposal to the unspecified US plan, including a requirement that a cease-fire take place before any other steps are made and that any swaps of territory be reciprocal and include security guarantees.
European officials presented their proposals to Vance during a meeting with Ukrainian and European officials at a country mansion outside of London on August 9, said the report said.
The WSJ report could not immediately be confirmed. Reuters quoted a European official as saying an alternative plan had been presented to Vance but did not provide details.
Russia’s invasion has turned into the largest land war in Europe since World War II, devastating Ukraine, and transforming Russia, turning its economy into a war machine and establishing a police-state government criminalizing dissent.
Moscow’s casualties, dead and wounded, stand at more than 1 million, according to Western estimates. Ukraine’s war dead are believed to exceed 100,000, with overall casualties around 400,000.
Despite the toll, and international pressure, Putin has pressed his advantage on and off the battlefield.
Forced To Cede Territory?
It was unclear what Trump meant by “swapping” territory; Ukraine doesn’t currently hold any Russian territory.
Russia seized control of the Crimean Peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and now occupies about one-fifth of the country, including almost all of the Luhansk region and substantial parts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions, the entirety of which Moscow now baselessly claims belong to Russia.
A senior EU official told RFE/RL on August 10 that “regarding territorial issues, the Russian position is framed as a territorial swap, but it appears as a rather one-sided swap.”
“President Trump does not consider it to be a concession to President Putin to have this meeting in Alaska. Rather, President Trump wants to test the ground himself with President Putin.”
“Security guarantees are of the utmost importance for Ukraine. The most robust security guarantee would be that there are no limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces and [allied]support for Ukraine,” the official added.
Zelenskyy has not been invited to the Alaska summit, although he has said he is ready to meet Putin face-to-face. Putin has regularly rejected meeting Zelenskyy.
US media reports suggested that Trump was considering inviting Zelenskyy to Alaska, although some White House sources have played down the reports and there is no indication how Putin would react to such a move.
Vance, in his Fox News interview, said Trump has persuaded Putin to meet with Zelenskyy and that a future meeting is being planned, although no specifics were given.
Ceding national territory to Russia would be a perilous political decision for Zelenskyy. At the same time, much of the Ukrainian population is “tired” of war, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
“Everyone in our state, in our country, is tired of this war,” the influential figure said.
“Unfortunately, we have paid a huge price for this war: The lives of our patriots, our soldiers, our citizens. Hundreds of cities have been destroyed. A large part of Ukraine is occupied by Russia,” he added.
