Zelensky says Ukrainian public won't let him hand Russia territory

The Ukrainian people would reject a peace deal that involves Ukraine unilaterally withdrawing from the eastern Donbas region and turning it over to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios in an interview Tuesday.

As Zelensky was speaking to Axios, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were meeting for a third round of direct talks in Geneva. The main sticking point is control of the Donbas, around 10% of which is still in Ukrainian hands.

Zelensky said U.S. mediators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have told him Russia genuinely wants to end the war, and that he should coordinate with his own negotiating team on that basis ahead of the talks. But Zelensky made clear he's much more pessimistic. He also advised Witkoff and Kushner that they shouldn't try to force him to sell a vision of peace his own people would see as an "unsuccessful story."

Zelensky said it was "not fair" that President Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine, not Russia, to make concessions for peace. He contended that, while it might be easier for Trump to pressure Ukraine than the much larger Russia, the way to create a lasting peace is not "to give victory" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said twice in recent days that the onus was on Zelensky to make concessions. "I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision," Zelensky told Axios. He also thanked Trump for his peacemaking efforts, and said his conversations with Kushner and Witkoff don't involve the kind of pressure Trump uses in public. "We respect each other," he said, adding that he was "not such a person" who folds easily under pressure.