Zelenskyy refuses to cede land to Russia as he rallies European support
[December 09, 2025]
By PAOLO SANTALUCIA and ILLIA NOVIKOV
ROME (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the pope
near Rome on Tuesday as he continued to rally European support for
Ukraine while resisting U.S. pressure for a painful compromise with
Russia.
Answering reporters’ questions in a WhatsApp chat, Zelenskyy reaffimed
his firm refusal to cede any territory, saying that “we clearly don’t
want to give up anything,” even as "the Americans are looking for a
compromise today, I will be honest.”
“Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories,” he said in
the message late Monday. ”According to the law we don’t have such right.
According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to
be frank, we don’t have a moral right either."
The Ukrainian president met early Tuesday with Pope Leo XIV at Castel
Gandolfo, a papal residence outside Rome, and is to have talks with
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later. The Vatican said that Leo
“reiterated the need for the continuation of dialogue and expressed his
urgent desire that the current diplomatic initiatives bring about a just
and lasting peace.”
The Holy See has tried to remain neutral in the war while offering
solidarity and assistance to what it calls the “martyred” people of
Ukraine. Leo has met now three times with Zelenskyy and has spoken by
telephone at least once with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The
American pope has called for a ceasefire and urged Russia in particular
to make gestures to promote peace.
On Monday, Zelenskyy held talks in London with British Prime Minister
Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz to strengthen Ukraine’s hand amid mounting impatience
from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Facing pressure from Trump
U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators completed three days of talks on Saturday
aimed at trying to narrow differences on the U.S. administration’s peace
proposal.
A major sticking point in the plan is the suggestion that Kyiv must cede
control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to Russia, which
illegally occupies most but not all of the territory. Ukraine and its
European allies have firmly resisted the idea of handing over land.
In an exchange with reporters on Sunday night, Trump appeared frustrated
with Zelenskyy, claiming the Ukrainian leader “hasn’t yet read the
proposal.”
Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Zelenskyy since winning a
second term, insisting the war was a waste of U.S. taxpayers’ money.
Trump has also repeatedly urged the Ukrainians to cede land to Russia to
end the nearly four-year conflict.
Zelenskyy said Monday that Trump “certainly wants to end the war. ...
Surely, he has his own vision. We live here, from within we see details
and nuances, we perceive everything much deeper, because this is our
motherland.”
He said the current U.S. peace plan differs from earlier versions in
that it now has 20 points, down from 28, after he said some “obvious
anti-Ukrainian points were removed.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends meeting with German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and
French President Emmanuel Macron at 10 Downing Street, in London,
Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)
Europeans back Ukraine
Starmer, Macron and Merz strongly backed Kyiv, with the U.K. leader
saying Monday that the push for peace was at a “critical stage,” and
stressed the need for “a just and lasting ceasefire.”
Merz, meanwhile, said he was “skeptical” about some details in
documents released by the U.S. “We have to talk about it. That’s why
we are here,” he said. “The coming days … could be a decisive time
for all of us.”
European leaders are working to ensure that any ceasefire is backed
by solid security guarantees both from Europe and the U.S. to deter
Russia from attacking again. Trump has not given explicit guarantees
in public.
Zelenskyy and his European allies have repeatedly accused Putin of
slow-walking the talks to press ahead with the invasion as his
forces are making slow buy steady gains while waves of missiles and
drones are pummeling Ukrainian infrastructure.
Russia and Ukraine exchange aerial strikes
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 110 drones of various types
across the country last night. They said air defenses neutralized 84
drones, 24 more have struck their targets.
Several regions of Ukraine faced emergency blackouts Tuesday due to
Russia’s prior attacks on energy infrastructure, according to
Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo.
Ukraine, in its turn, continued its drone attacks on Russia.
Russian air defenses destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight above
various Russian regions and occupied Crimea, Russia’s Ministry of
Defense said Tuesday. In Chuvashia, a region about 900 kilometers
(about 560 miles) northeast of the border with Ukraine, the attack
damaged residential buildings and injured nine people, local
governor Oleg Nikolayev said in an online statement.
Ukraine’s Security Service carried out a drone attack on an LPG
terminal at the port of Temryuk in Russia’s Krasnodar region on Dec.
5, according to an official with knowledge of the operation who
spoke to The Associated Press.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to comment publicly, said the strike sparked a large fire
at the facility. More than 20 LPG storage tanks were set ablaze and
burned for more than three days, he said. The attack also damaged
railway tank cars, an intermediate refueling tank, and a loading and
unloading rack.
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Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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