Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Friday that Ukraine may have to give up land in a peace agreement with Russia as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to push for a deal.
Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing world champion, is one of the most senior Ukrainian politicians to indicate his country may have to concede territory to try and end the killing, hours after a Russian missile attack killed 12 people and injured more than 80 in the Ukrainian capital.
“One of the scenarios is … to give up territory. It’s not fair,” Klitschko told the BBC. “But for the peace, temporary peace, maybe it can be a solution, temporary.”
Klitschko, a political opponent of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made clear that the Ukrainian president hadn’t discussed any settlement with him: “President Zelenskyy does [it] himself. It’s not my function.”
While admitting it would be a “painful solution” to achieve peace, Klitschko insisted the Ukrainian people would “never accept occupation” by Moscow long term.
But the Kyiv mayor’s remarks about a temporary transfer of land stand in stark contrast to a U.S. peace plan which heavily favors Moscow, calling for informal American recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea, a nonstarter for Ukraine.
Klitschko’s comments come as Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for more peace talks. Nearly 100 days since his return to power, Trump insisted he was putting pressure on Kyiv and Moscow equally to end the war — which leadership in Ukraine disputes.
“You have no idea what pressure I’m putting on Russia,” Trump said Thursday. “We’re putting a lot of pressure on Russia.”
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