“We will not leave Donbass. We cannot do this,” UNIAN news agency quoted him as saying.

According to Zelensky, Donbass is supposedly a “springboard for a future new offensive,” which may also target the Dnepropetrovsk Region and Kharkov.

Commenting on the chances of a settlement of the conflict through negotiations, he suggested that this would require three meetings at the leadership level: two bilateral, and one trilateral.

Earlier, Western media reported the United States demanded territorial concessions from Ukraine to resolve the conflict with Russia. The Wall Street Journal citing sources stated that the US settlement proposal provides for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People’s Republic as the first stage to achieve peace.

President Donald Trump had said that the United States was studying the issue of territories “for which fighting has been going on for three and a half years” and was counting on “some kind of exchange.”

Zelensky noted that the answer to the territorial issues is already in the constitution of Ukraine and “no one will deviate from this.”

The news comes as European countries race to strengthen their defense industries, both to bolster their own security and Ukraine’s defenses in the face of Russian aggression.

The FT identified 7 million square meters of new industrial development after tracking changes at 150 facilities across 37 companies, namely those associated with ammunition and missile production.

The most extensive expansion was recorded at the ammunition and production site in western Hungary, a joint project of Hungarian state defense company N7 Holding and German defense firm Rheinmetall, the news outlet reported.

The Varpalota facility is meant to produce ammunition for the KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles, 155 mm artillery shells, and Leopard 2 tank ammunition, Rheinmetall has said.

Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest defense contractor — known for producing armored vehicles, ammunition, and other military equipment — has seen its stock price surge 1,000% amid a defense spending drive following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The defense giant has played a key role in producing arms for Kyiv and opened its first military vehicle factory in Ukraine last year, with plans to open four defense plants in the war-torn country in total.

The FT also identified expansions at 20 sites supported by the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP), an EU program under which Brussels allocated 500 million euros ($580 million) for boosting ammunition production.

Most of the companies declined to comment for the news outlet, citing security concerns.

Since the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the European defense industry has faced criticism for its cumbersome and lackluster performance, with industrial bottlenecks hampering the speedy delivery of arms and ammunition to Kyiv.

Efforts to boost defense spending gained fresh urgency after U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized Europe for underspending on defense, returned to the office in January.

The NATO summit in The Hague in June, the first one during Trump’s second term, saw the allies agree to raise the defense spending benchmark from 2% to 5% — with military aid to Ukraine potentially counting toward the new goalpost.

Separately, the EU unveiled its new ReArm Europe program, aiming to raise an additional 650 billion euros ($750 billion) in defense spending and 150 billion euros ($170 billion) in loans for defense investments.

EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said that member states can use these funds to provide Ukraine with weapons and invest in the country’s defense industry.

The proposed deal would see Ukraine concede control over the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Crimea as well as Russian-held parts of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. These regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in referendums in 2014 and 2022.

However, despite the apparent change of tune, Ukraine remains strongly opposed to any settlement in which it gives up more land than what is currently controlled by Russian forces, the report claims. In exchange, however, Ukraine would demand “robust security guarantees,” including weapons deliveries from the West and a clear path to NATO membership, according to the report.

The apparent softening of Zelensky’s stance comes ahead of the highly anticipated summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on Friday.

An unnamed Western official told the British daily that “the plan can only be related to the current positions held by the militaries,” adding that the weekend saw some frantic diplomacy between Kiev and its Western backers. The report also claims that the EU had decided to support Ukraine’s vision for peace in an effort to boost its diplomatic position in dealing with both Trump and Russia.

On Monday, Trump said that he and Putin would discuss a potential deal that would involve a land swap between Russia and Ukraine, noting it would be “to the betterment of both.” Apart from the aforementioned territory, Moscow also currently controls swaths of land in Kharkov, Sumy and Dnepropetrovsk regions.

Zelensky has publicly rejected any territorial concessions to Russia. Moscow has insisted that any peace deal must involve Ukraine’s withdrawal from Donbass, Zaporozhye Region and Kherson Region, Kiev’s commitment to stay out of NATO, as well as the country’s demilitarization and denazification.