Ukraine defiant on US pressure as Trump accuses Zelenskyy of boasting

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted Wednesday that Russia must accept a full ceasefire before negotiations, thwarting U.S. efforts to gain quick concessions from Kyiv, as President Donald Trump said the Ukrainian leader’s options were either peace now or the eventual loss of his country.

Trump accused Zelenskyy on Wednesday of “boasting” after the Ukrainian leader told reporters the day before that Kyiv will never recognize Crimea as Russian.

“He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”

U.S. officials presented a proposal last week that apparently included leaving Russia with 20% of the Ukrainian land it now occupies, while also denying Ukraine NATO membership and security guarantees. It has also offered U.S. recognition of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea as well as the eventual lifting of sanctions. Trump wrote Wednesday that despite Zelenskyy’s comments, Washington is not asking Ukraine to recognize Crimea as Russian.

Trump’s post came soon after Vice President JD Vance warned that the White House could walk away from its own peace process if progress is not made soon.

Washington’s growing rift with Kyiv over its refusal to accept talk of territorial concessions without an initial truce was already playing out publicly earlier Wednesday, as European officials, set to meet a high-level Ukrainian delegation in London, had to downgrade the talks after top U.S. officials abruptly canceled plans to attend.

After his delegation arrived in London, Zelenskyy doubled down on the need for a full ceasefire, pointing to a Russian drone attack that struck a bus of factory workers in the country’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing nine people and wounding dozens of others.

“We in Ukraine insist on an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelenskyy announced Wednesday. “We are also ready for an immediate ceasefire at least for civilian targets and have already stated this. This should be a shared first priority with all partners — saving lives.”

His comments demonstrate a growing willingness in Kyiv to push back on U.S. pressure for a deal at any cost, especially after months of anxiety in Ukraine after Trump and Vance’s dressing down of Zelenskyy in the Oval Office spurred brief military aid and intelligence cuts. Talk of an immediate ceasefire has ramped up after several major Russian attacks on civilians, including one that hit a playground and another that struck civilians on Palm Sunday.

Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who has been overseeing the minerals deal Trump is seeking to ink with Ukraine, also wrote an unusually strongly worded message on X on Wednesday, declaring that “Ukraine is ready to negotiate — but not to surrender.”

“There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return with greater violence. A full ceasefire — on land, in the air, and at sea — is the necessary first step. If Russia opts for a limited pause, Ukraine will respond in kind,” she wrote.

She also said Ukraine will never recognize Russian occupation of Crimea and will require “binding security guarantees” if NATO denies Ukraine membership.

Lower-level talks took place Wednesday in London, but “the foreign minister-level meeting isn’t happening,” said a diplomat familiar with the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations after Secretary 0f State Marco Rubio canceled and the other foreign ministers followed suit.

Rubio had been scheduled to fly to London on Tuesday night. Steve Witkoff, a special envoy and close ally of Trump’s who is central to White House efforts to broker an end to the war, also dropped out. He will head to Moscow this week, according to the Russians.

The State Department played down the significance of Rubio’s last-minute decision to skip the London meeting, made just hours before he was scheduled to take off.

“Secretary Rubio is a busy man,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said. “While the meetings in London are still occurring, he will not be attending, but that is not a statement regarding the meetings. It’s a statement about logistical issues in his schedule.”

Vance, traveling in India on Wednesday, repeated warnings that the United States would walk away from its efforts to broker a peace accord if Moscow and Kyiv didn’t reach an agreement soon.

“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” he told reporters in Agra while visiting the Taj Mahal. “We’re going to see if the Europeans, the Russians and the Ukrainians are ultimately able to get this thing over the finish line.”

He said the proposal would freeze the current battle lines where they are today while a long-term diplomatic settlement was achieved. Both sides would have to give up some territory they currently control, Vance said.

The Russians, watching from the sidelines, said the collapse of the London talks showed how far apart Ukrainian and American officials remain on the basic contours of a peace deal.

“As far as we understand, it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions on some issues, which is why this meeting has not taken place yet,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. “We continue our contacts with the Americans. We have no contacts with the Europeans; we have no contacts with the Ukrainians, either, although President [Vladimir] Putin remains open to such contacts in the interest of reconciliation.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, called for high-level talks to resume in Rome this weekend, when Zelenskyy, Trump and other leaders are expected to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday.

“Any number of meetings at various levels is entirely possible,” Yurash said during a television appearance in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s hopes for progress on a viable ceasefire ahead of any concessions are grounded in the unrelenting Russian attacks on the country.

In addition to the drone attack that killed the factory workers Wednesday, Russia attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Kherson region, said the head of the region’s military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin. He also called on local residents to limit their use of electricity as workers rushed to try to repair damage from the strikes.

Earlier this week, Russian forces also struck an apartment building in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia city, killing one person and injuring dozens of others. Russia controls parts of both the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and claims to have annexed them despite failing to control their regional capitals.

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• Hendrix reported from London. Natalie Allison in Agra, India, and Serhiy Morgunov in Potsdam, Germany, contributed.