Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that his country would not accept any agreement on its fate decided bilaterally by Russia and the United States on how to end Moscow’s three-year war on Ukraine without Kyiv’s involvement.

“We, as an independent country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” Zelenskyy told reporters as he visited a nuclear plant on his way to the Munich Security Conference, where he plans to meet Friday with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and they agreed that negotiations to end the war should start immediately, with Trump suggesting the two of them might soon hold a summit in Saudi Arabia. Trump later talked with Zelenskyy and informed him of his discussions with Putin.

Daily newspapers with covers dedicated to the recent phone call of Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are laid out at a newsstand in a street in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 13, 2025.
Daily newspapers with covers dedicated to the recent phone call of Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are laid out at a newsstand in a street in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 13, 2025.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy said, “Today it’s important that everything does not go according to Putin’s plan, in which he wants to do everything to make his negotiations bilateral” with the U.S.

Still, on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said after talking with Trump, “We discussed many nuances, diplomatic, military, economic, and President Trump informed me of what Putin told him. We believe that America’s power is enough to, together with us, together with all partners, pressure Russia and Putin toward peace.”