European leaders explained to Trump why Ukraine can't hand Donbas to Russia, WSJ
Photo: European leaders explained to Trump why Ukraine cannot give Donbas to Russia (GettyImages)
European leaders during talks in Washington tried to convey to US President Donald Trump the dangers of possible concessions to Russia on Ukrainian territories, particularly the rest of the Donetsk region, reports The Wall Street Journal.
A US-prepared map of eastern Ukraine, reviewed by Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, showed that Russia already controls about 76% of the Donetsk region. This region, which the Kremlin claims in full, contains some of Ukraine’s strongest defensive fortifications.
To explain the scale of the threat, European leaders used examples that Trump could understand.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Moscow’s demand for all of Donbas is equivalent to asking the US to give up Florida.
During closed-door talks, Finnish President Alexander Stubb described the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk as a bastion against the Huns.
According to the media's sources, this metaphor made the strongest impression on Trump.
Washington talks
A meeting took place at the White House between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European leaders who came to Washington to show support for the Ukrainian president.
Before the closed-door talks, a large map of Ukraine was placed in the Oval Office, in front of Zelenskyy and Trump. The eastern part of the country, colored pink, illustrated the territory currently controlled by Russian troops — about 20%.
According to the BBC, the map was prepared as a visual argument to pressure Zelenskyy on exchanging territory for peace.
As WSJ reported, the Ukrainian president did not immediately reject the idea of territorial exchanges during the talks but emphasized that implementing them would be difficult over the relocation of the population and the constitutional ban on giving up territory. But he allowed for the possibility of proportional exchanges.
