Zelenskyy says Putin wants the rest of Ukraine's Donetsk region as part of a ceasefire

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that it controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the leader categorically rejected.

Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would not withdraw from territories it controls, saying that would be unconstitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.

He said diplomatic discussions led by the U.S. focusing on ending the war have not touched on security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian aggression and that meeting formats currently being discussed do not include Europe’s participation, both key demands of Kyiv.

Meanwhile, Russian forces on the ground have been closing in on a key territorial grab around the city of Pokrovsk.

Zelenskyy said the necessity of territorial concessions was conveyed to him by U.S. officials ahead of a summit Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in further meetings at the level of national security officials.

It remained unclear whether Ukraine would take part in the Friday summit. European Union leaders also have been sidelined from the meeting, and they appealed to Trump on Tuesday to protect their interests.

Zelenskyy said Putin wants the remaining 9,000 square kilometers (3,500 square miles) of Donetsk under Kyiv’s control, where the war’s toughest battles are grinding on, as part of a ceasefire plan, in a press briefing on Tuesday in Kyiv.

Doing so would hand Russia almost the entirety of the Donbas, a region comprising Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland that Putin has long coveted.

Zelenskyy learned of Russia's position after holding a call with Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff, after the latter’s bilateral meeting with Putin. Witkoff told Zelenskyy that Russia was ready to end the war and that there should be territorial concessions from both sides. Some European partners were also part of the call.

“And that, probably, Putin wants us to leave Donbas. That is, it didn’t sound like America wants us to leave,” he said, recounting the call.

Zelenskyy reiterated that withdrawing from Ukraine-controlled territory was out of the question, especially as the question of security guarantees for Ukraine, were not being discussed.

“We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part - our territories are illegally occupied,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. “Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive."

Zelenskyy said this is what occurred in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year.

The U.S. president has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.

The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia’s energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favorable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.

Referring to the format for ceasefire talks, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the U.S. proposed a bilateral meeting, between the U.S. and Russia, and then a trilateral meeting that would include Ukraine. Zelenskyy said the presence of Europe was important for Kyiv because these were the only partners offering security guarantees, including funding the Ukrainian army.

European countries’ overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.

Their leaders said Tuesday they “welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” But, they underlined, “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine” and “international borders must not be changed by force.”

The Europeans on Wednesday will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine’s cause at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part but did say “I’m going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting with Putin.

Russia holds shaky control over four of the country’s regions, two in the country’s east and two in the south.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Zelenskyy’s office, said anything short of Russia’s strategic defeat would mean that any ceasefire deal would be on Moscow’s terms, erode international law and send a dangerous signal to the world.

Trump’s seemingly public rehabilitation of Putin — a pariah in most of Europe — has unnerved Ukraine’s backers.

The summit in Alaska is a “profoundly alarming moment for Europe,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

According to Gould-Davies, Putin might persuade Trump to try to end the war by “accepting Russian sovereignty” over parts of Ukraine, even beyond areas that it currently occupies. Trump also could ease or lift sanctions which are causing “chronic pain” to the Russian economy.

That would provoke a “really serious split in the transatlantic alliance," he said.

The war isn’t about Russia’s territorial expansion but about Putin’s goal of subordinating Ukraine, which would create the opportunity to threaten other parts of Europe, Gould-Davies said.

It was unclear whether the Europeans also were unsettled by Trump mistakenly saying twice he would be traveling to Russia on Friday to meet Putin. The summit is taking place in the U.S. state of Alaska, which was colonized by Russia in the 18th century until Czar Alexander II sold it to the U.S. in 1867.

Tuesday’s European joint statement was meant to be a demonstration of unity. But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is Putin’s closest ally in Europe and has tried to block EU support for Ukraine, was the only one of the bloc’s 27 leaders who refused to endorse it.

Russia appeared closer to taking an important city in the Donetsk region, Pokrovsk.

Military analysts using open-source information to monitor the battles said the next 24-48 hours could be critical. Losing Pokrovsk would hand Russia an important victory ahead of the summit. It also would complicate Ukrainian supply lines to the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has focused the bulk of military efforts.

“A lot will depend on availability, quantity and quality of Ukrainian reserves,” Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, wrote on social media late Monday.

Ukraine’s military said its forces are fending off Russian infantry units trying to infiltrate their defensive positions in the Donetsk region. The region’s Ukrainian military command on social media Monday acknowledged that the situation remains “difficult, unpleasant and dynamic.”

Elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian missile attack on a military training facility left one soldier dead and 11 others wounded, the Ukrainian Ground Forces posted on social media.

Associated Press writer Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report. Cook reported from Brussels.

Ukrainian servicemen of 57th motorised brigade control an FPV drone at the frontline in Kharkiv region, Ukraine Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

A Ukrainian serviceman of 57th motorised brigade controls an FPV drone at the frontline in Kharkiv region, Ukraine Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

FILE - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a press conference during his visit to Vienna, Austria, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, recruits practice military skills on a training ground on a sunflower field in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Attorney General Pam Bondi look on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, center, attends a cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit on July 7, 2017, in Hamburg, Germany. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 8, 2025--

Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq: BRKR) today announced that its Board of Directors has added Jack J. Phillips to serve on its board of directors, effective as of January 1 st, 2026. Mr. Phillips is a senior healthcare industry executive with over 30 years of leadership experience in the diagnostics industry.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251208901297/en/

Frank H. Laukien, chairman, president and CEO of Bruker Corporation, stated: “Bruker is delighted to add Jack to our board of directors. His broad and deep diagnostics experience, strategic acumen and market development experience will be very valuable to Bruker and our board. I admire Jack’s proven ability to translate scientific innovations into clinical impact for patient benefit and to accelerate profitable business growth in diagnostics. Jack’s addition to our board is timely, as we broaden our infectious disease diagnostics portfolio, and increasingly leverage our unique disease biology research tools for opportunities in specialty diagnostics.”

Jack Phillips served as President & CEO of Accelerate Diagnostics from 2020-2025, pioneering rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) technology for hospitals and infectious disease doctors combatting serious bacterial infections, life-threatening sepsis and antibiotic resistance.

Previously, Jack was President & CEO of Roche Diagnostics North America from 2010-2020, where he led the portfolio across clinical chemistry, immunodiagnostics, as well as molecular, tissue and point-of-care diagnostics, and digital pathology, all further strengthening Roche’s leadership position in the global in vitro diagnostics (IVD) industry.

From 1999-2010, Jack was Senior VP and General Manager, North America, for Ventana Medical Systems, helping establish tissue and companion diagnostics as standards of care. His career has centered on advancing innovation to clinical translation for patient benefit and business impact through strategy, market development and operational excellence. Jack serves on the Board of Trustees of Tucson Medical Center, and he previously was a board member of AdvaMedDx. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from Northern Kentucky University.

“It’s a great honor to join the Board of Directors at Bruker Corporation, a company with an entrepreneurial culture and a unique dedication to innovation and translation that I really admire.” said Mr. Phillips. “Throughout my career, I’ve seen diagnostics not as siloed technologies, but as a connected ecosystem that turns biological insight into clinical and economic impact, and I look forward to bringing that experience and vision to Bruker.”

About Bruker Corporation – Leader of the Post-Genomic Era

Bruker is enabling scientists and engineers to make breakthrough post-genomic discoveries and develop new applications that improve the quality of human life. Bruker’s high performance scientific instruments and high value analytical and diagnostic solutions enable scientists to explore life and materials at molecular, cellular, and microscopic levels. In close cooperation with our customers, Bruker is enabling innovation, improved productivity, and customer success in post-genomic life science molecular and cell biology research, in applied and biopharma applications, in microscopy and nanoanalysis, as well as in industrial and cleantech research, and next-gen semiconductor metrology in support of AI. Bruker offers differentiated, high value life science and diagnostics systems and solutions in preclinical imaging, clinical phenomics research, proteomics and multiomics, spatial and single-cell biology, functional structural and condensate biology, as well as in clinical microbiology and molecular diagnostics. For more information, please visit www.bruker.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements contained in this press release which do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated, including, but not limited to, those risk factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in our filings with the SEC, including, without limitation, our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, as may be updated by our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We expressly disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements other than as required by law.

Jack Phillips