Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to reject Vladimir Putin's "peace deal" - which involves handing large sections of Ukraine to Russia.

The Ukrainian President has claimed his Russian counterpart wants the rest of occupied Donetsk - and effectively the entire Donbas region - as part of a ceasefire deal.

According to Zelensky, Kyiv currently controls around 30 per cent of Donetsk.

Located in the east of the country, the area borders Russia, and makes up the Donbas region alongside neighbouring Luhansk, of which Moscow controls 99 per cent.

Zelensky has vowed that Ukraine will reject Putin's proposal because it would open the way for Moscow to conduct further offensives by depriving Kyiv of defensive lines.

It comes as 26 European leaders have issued a joint statement on the upcoming US-Russia peace talks.

In the statement, the group applauded Donald Trump's efforts "towards ending Russia's war of aggression", but warned: "The people of Ukraine must have the freedom to decide their future."

Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed the Russian leader wants the rest of Donetsk as part of a ceasefire deal

The statement was signed by every EU member state except Hungary, which has a rocky relationship with Ukraine and is Russia's closest ally in Europe.

Zelensky thanked the leaders who had signed the letter during his nightly address - but called out Hungary in a fiery a social media post.

He said: "It's clear who the 27th is. Always against everything, just to be uniquely against."

Viktor Orban (pictured) has had a rocky relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky

The upcoming meeting between the US and Russian leaders on Friday has now been confirmed to be taking place in Anchorage, Alaska.

During a press conference on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "There is no leader in the world right now who has been more committed to preventing wars or ending them than President Trump."

However, the Trump administration has played down expectations of a peace deal during the meeting.

Leavitt instead called it a "listening exercise".

Leavitt instead called the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin a 'listening exercise'

She said: "The goal of this meeting is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war.

"This bilateral meeting is a bilateral meeting between one party in this two party war. You need both countries to agree to a deal."

One topic which the White House has said would need to be discussed between the two countries themselves was abducted Ukrainian children.

When asked whether the return of these children is a red line for Trump in ending the war, Leavitt said: "The President did encourage Ukraine and Russia to speak directly to one another in terms of humanitarian issues, and we have seen progress.

"We have seen prisoners of war swapped between these two countries as a result of these direct talks.

She added the topic of abducted children is one "Russia and Ukraine need to iron out together which is why they need to speak".