Zelenskyy says U.S. too often asks Ukraine, not Russia, for concessions

Land remains the major sticking point in negotiations, with Russia demanding that Ukraine cede the remaining 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that Moscow has failed to capture - something Kyiv steadfastly refuses to do. At a news conference on Saturday, Zelenskyy said that U.S. negotiators had told Ukraine that the Russians had promised a swift end to the war if Ukrainian forces immediately withdrew from the part of Donetsk it still controls. Zelenskyy also suggested Moscow was opposed to the deployment of French and British troops in Ukraine after the war - which Paris and London have said they are willing to do - because Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to have the opportunity to come back."