Grin and Bear It, Ukraine

"He said Putin will destroy you if you don't agree now."

"Zelenskyy had his maps and everything and he was explaining it to him but he wanted nothing to do with it."

"It was pretty much like, 'no, look guys, you can't possibly win back any territory. ... There is nothing we can do to save you."

"You should try to give diplomacy another chance'."

Anonymous White House insider 

 

"[Trump] went on and  [about] his grievances of not having gotten the Nobel Peace Prize."

"[On the conflict], the message was that Russia only wants Donbas and this is a good deal and Putin wants to end the war and it can be done quickly."

European diplomat 

 

"Let it be cut the way it is. They can negotiate something later on, down the line."

"[For now both sides should] stop at the battle line -- go home, stop fighting, stop killing people."

U.S. President Donald Trump 

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Oct. 17, 2025 | Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images

 

Once again, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been left with little options. He can, and will once again appeal to his steadfast supporters in Europe, many of whom in Russia's 'near abroad' fear with good reason that Vladimir Putin's Greater Russia aspirations to extend Russian influence and holdings among neighbouring states will turn next to them, once the Russian military's conflict in Ukraine has been settled to Mr. Putin's satisfaction.

 

Ukraine's on-again, off-again treatment and promises from the mercurial U.S. president has again dashed Ukrainian hopes for a ceasefire through White House intervention, and at the very best, an American NATO-style assurance that Russia will not prevail in its illegal, intemperate and destructive gambit, intent on annexing as much of Ukrainian territory as conceivable. The U.S. president, shown maps in preparation for his Ukrainian counterpart's rationale in defending his nation, simply tossed them aside as irrelevant.

 

In place of a reasoned and reasonable conversation and exchange of views, Mr. Trump urged Kyiv to agree to conceding its full Donbas region to Russia; a conciliatory, good-faith move that would see Moscow agree to a complete troop withdrawal, and peace would once again reign between the two nations, he assured Zelenskyy. 

 

The result saw Mr. Zelenskyy crestfallen, disappointed, concerned and defiant, planning to meet with his European allies, that is was "very important" the Europeans present "a unified position" with Kyiv. Unified they would "also address the United States in various formats." True to their pledges, European leaders again rallied around Zelenskyy, proclaiming support. The White House decision set to dominate diplomatic discussions, the Thursday EU summit included.

 

Mere days after broadly  hinting about Tomahawk missiles going to Ukraine to enable it to strike deep within Russia, this new war pivot arrived following a telephone conversation with the Russian president where Putin demanded Kyiv surrender the entire Donbas region, despite that Moscow has been unable to seize the region completely regardless of a decade of conflict. But its surrender to Russia's clutches, Putin averred would be the only condition that would see an end to the war.  

 

Although European diplomats have adjusted to  a seeming reality that Kyiv would have to surrender part of its territory to Russia to see an end to the conflict, they still have backed Zelenskyy, insisting he would not voluntarily cede territory to Moscow that Russia does not militarily control. This week's deliberation by European officials on unifying their position in response to Trump's latest reversal, and on how best to maintain the flow of weapons to Ukraine, includes a prospective "reparation loan" linked to using Russia's frozen assets for the purpose. 

 

US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 17, 2025.

Tom Brenner | Afp | Getty Images 

"[The issue] has been raised repeatedly with various nuances during contacts between Russia and the United States."

"[Russia's position is] well known [and] remains unchanged."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov