Peter Doocy confronts Zelenskyy with question central to peace talks — and the response speaks volumes

President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a handful of European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.

Ahead of involving NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and his other guests, Trump first sat down with Zelenskyy for a meeting that went far more smoothly than the Ukrainian president’s February Oval Office appearance.

‘Are you prepared to keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths for another couple years, or are you going to agree to redraw the maps?’

It certainly did not hurt that Zelenskyy wore a suit this time around and expressed a great deal of gratitude to Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and the U.S. at the outset of the meeting.

While the meeting was largely positive, the Ukrainian president appeared keen to dodge the question of whether he would accept a redrawing of the map in order to bring the conflict to a close.

Trump noted in the meeting on Monday that since retaking office, he has resolved multiple conflicts — between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia and Thailand, and India and Pakistan — and “thought this maybe would be the easiest one” but discovered “it’s a tough one.”

The war in Ukraine is now nearly halfway through its third year, with an estimated 400,000 Ukrainian casualties, 950,000 Russian casualties, and over 3.7 million people displaced.

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Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Trump, who had an “extremely productive” meeting on Friday with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, stressed, however, that there is now a “good chance” of ending the war through these meetings.

The president told reporters, “The war is going to end, and [Zelenskyy] wants it to end, and Vladimir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it, and we’re going to get it ended.”

“We’re going to make sure that if there’s peace, the peace is going to stay long-term,” Trump said. “We’re not talking about a two-year peace, and then we end up in this mess again. We’re going to make sure that everything’s good.”

Trump indicated that to this end, the U.S. will give Ukraine “very good protection, very good security.”

While Trump reportedly got Putin to agree to non-NATO security guarantees for Ukraine as well as to “land swaps,” the Russian president conditioned peace on Kyiv abandoning the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country.

Zelenskyy has softened his stance about giving up conquered lands as part of a potential settlement. Whereas earlier this month, Zelenskyy indicated that “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” he is apparently now amenable to some exchanges of territory; however, the Ukrainian president told reporters over the weekend that he would not give up Donetsk.

Russia occupies around 20% of the entire country and most of the Donbas — including all of the Luhansk region, most of the Donetsk region, much of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and parts of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, “Are you prepared to keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths for another couple years, or are you going to agree to redraw the maps?”

Zelenskyy did not directly answer the question but instead noted that Ukrainians live under constant attack and alluded to the drone strike that took place overnight and reportedly claimed the lives of seven people, including a toddler, in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

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Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

“We need to stop this war, to stop Russia, and we need support from American and European partners, and we will do our best for this,” Zelenskyy said.

‘So you’re saying during the war you can’t have elections?’

While the Ukrainian president avoided answering the question of whether he would agree to redrawing the maps, he did underscore his support for Trump’s “diplomatic way of finishing this war” and expressed a readiness for trilateral talks.

Trump once again made clear that he wants the killing to stop.

“I love the Ukrainian people, but I love all people. I love the Russian people. I love them all. I want to get the war stopped,” Trump said.

Trump also quipped that he was a fan of Ukraine’s rule where elections are suspended indefinitely during wartime — the rule that has kept Zelenskyy in power well past the end of his presidential term.

“So you’re saying during the war you can’t have elections? So let me just see. Three and a half years from now, so you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections?” Trump said. “I wonder what the fake news would say.”

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