President of Ukraine eyes 'lasting' peace

Warns Washington of Moscow's intentions

- 

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Sunday called for a “lasting” peace to end the war there, and warned that President Vladimir Putin of Russia had previously seized Ukrainian land as “a springboard for a new attack”.

Mr Zelensky made the comments on social media after he arrived in Washington before planned high-stakes meetings at the White House yesterday with President Donald Trump and several European leaders.

Mr Trump met Mr Putin in Alaska on Friday for talks on Ukraine that ended without the ceasefire Mr Trump had been insisting was necessary to secure a peace deal. Instead, he backed Mr Putin's plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding territory it controls to Russia.

Russia already occupies almost a fifth of Ukraine, including the entire Crimean Peninsula and large portions of an eastern region known as the Donbas. Mr Trump told European leaders after his Alaska meeting that a peace deal could be struck quickly if Mr Zelensky agreed to give up the rest of the Donbas.