Amid peace negotiations, Zelensky says Ukraine constitution doesn't allow land to be traded, ceded

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Kyiv won’t give up land that has not been occupied by Moscow’s forces as part of a peace agreement, later adding that Ukraine's constitution doesn't permit it. 

“We need real negotiations,” Zelensky said to reporters in Brussels at a press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Zelensky is to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday with other European leaders to talk about potentially ending the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Zelensky said that Russia failed to occupy a part of eastern Ukraine, which it has tried to control since 2014. He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been unable to take it for 12 years, and the constitution of Ukraine makes it impossible … to give up territory or trade land," according to Politico. 

Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss how the three-year-old war could end.

Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN Sunday that Putin agreed to “robust security guarantees” for Ukraine from the U.S. as part of a possible peace deal.