Zelenskyy warned the U.S. against making unilateral decisions regarding Ukrainian territories

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv will under no circumstances recognize the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territories, regardless of any decisions that may be made in the United States. The head of state made this statement on November 12 during a speech at the plenary session of the European Political Community summit in Dublin.

“If someone in America makes decisions that, in essence, treat Ukrainian territory as if it were not Ukrainian, then this shows us where things are headed. We must clearly state that we will never, under any circumstances, recognize the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory,” Zelenskyy emphasized.

The day before, on November 11, during a press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, the Ukrainian president also ruled out the possibility of withdrawing troops from Donbas to end the war, stressing that the country’s independence is at stake: “The American side has very often raised the issue of Donbas, a part of our Ukrainian land. And, of course, they are focusing their attention on this. They think that to stop this war, we must leave our territory. It is impossible to speak to us in this way when the issue is our country’s independence.”

Source: Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.

On November 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the idea of ceding Donbas to Russia in exchange for security guarantees for Ukraine. He emphasized that territorial concessions do not resolve the main issue: whether Vladimir Putin will cease his aggression after receiving these territories.

The Russian Federation—an aggressor state—is demanding that Ukraine not only relinquish the unoccupied part of the Ukrainian Donbas but also make further territorial concessions as part of a future agreement to end the war.