Ukraine says it won’t accept US-Russia peace deal reached without Kyiv

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine would not accept any bilateral agreement on its fate reached by Moscow and Washington without Kyiv’s involvement, and called for Europe to have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war.

The Ukrainian leader made the comments at a nuclear plant on his way to the Munich Security Conference, a day after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and announced the start of negotiations.

“We, as an independent country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” Zelensky told reporters.

The Putin call and remarks by Trump’s defence secretary, who said Kyiv cannot join Nato or that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is unrealistic, have caused alarm in Europe that the White House could seek to make a deal with Russia without them.

“Today it’s important that everything does not go according to Putin’s plan, in which he wants to do everything to make his negotiations bilateral [with the US],” Zelensky said.

He said it was important for the United States and Ukraine to draw up a plan to end the war before talking to the Russian side.