Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that he would reject proposals to cede more territory in exchange for a ceasefire, as he does not believe Russia intends to halt the war.

Russia has proposed to stop its advances in other Ukrainian regions in exchange for Ukraine pulling back its forces from Donbas, a region comprised of the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Zelenskyy stressed the importance of maintaining hold on Donbas, as he does not believe a ceasefire is imminent.

“Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive,” he said.

His comments come ahead of the scheduled summit planned to take place in Alaska on Friday between United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that small Russian sabotage groups had passed Ukrainian defences and advanced approximately 10km into Eastern Donbas.

Zelenskyy believes Putin continues to advance because he “does not want a sovereign Ukraine.”

“I have heard nothing… not a single proposal… that would guarantee that a new war will not start tomorrow and that Putin will not try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv,” Zelenskyy said.

Although the summit in Alaska will not feature the Ukrainian leader, Trump believes his meeting with Putin will better inform him on how to mediate between the two.

A White House spokesperson said: “This is for the president to go and to get a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.”

Trump has previously proposed that the two countries exchange land, something he would be willing to facilitate in a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy at a later date.

Photo: by Presidential Communications Office and is available here and used under a Creative Commons licence. The image has been cropped.