Russia has rejected swapping the Ukrainian territory it occupies for areas in its own western Kursk region held by Kyiv forces.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that accepting the idea floated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview was “impossible.”
He asserted that Russia has never and will never discuss the topic of exchanging “its territory.”
Peskov said that Ukrainian forces holding territory inside Russia would either be “destroyed” or pushed out. “Certainly, Ukrainian formations will be driven out of this territory. They will be eliminated and booted out,” he iterated.
Ukraine staged a lightning incursion over the border last August and seized chunks of Kursk.
Russian troops are still battling to eject them. Russia, in turn, controls just under 20 percent of Ukraine, or more than 112,000 square kilometres.
Ukraine controls about 450 square kilometres of the Kursk region, according to open-source maps of the battlefield.
Zelenskyy said in the interview, “We will swap one territory for another.”
He added that he did not know which part of Russian-occupied territory Ukraine would ask for back. “I don’t know, we will see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wolfgang Ischinger, a German diplomat and former chairman of the Munich Security Conference, opined that ending the Ukrainian crisis will require sustained discussions on various issues, including the potential lifting of anti-Russian sanctions.
“The idea that establishing security guarantees for Ukraine and a cease-fire line along the current front line is all that’s needed is the West’s wishful thinking. We need to be preparing for a much longer and extraordinarily complex process that will take many months.
“The whole security situation in Europe, the lifting of sanctions, nuclear and conventional arms control, and overall strategic stability – it will all have to be discussed.”
Wolfgang Ischinger
Russian Barrage Of Missiles Kill One
The Kremlin announcement came after Ukrainian authorities said that one person had been killed and at least four others were wounded – including a child – in an attack on Kyiv that damaged apartment blocks, office buildings and civilian infrastructure.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that it had carried out a “group missile strike” on Ukrainian military-industrial sites that produce drones and claimed all targets had been hit.
Zelenskyy wrote on social media after the attack that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “not preparing for peace – he continues to kill Ukrainians and destroy cities.”
“Only strong steps and pressure on Russia can stop this terror. Right now we need the unity and the support of all our partners in the fight for a just end to this war.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy Keith Kellogg, who is tasked with drawing up a proposal to halt the fighting, is also due to visit Ukraine next week.
Trump took office promising to end the war in Ukraine, possibly by leveraging billions of dollars in US assistance sent under former President Joe Biden, to force Kyiv into territorial concessions.
Trump also said on Monday that Ukraine “may be Russian someday.”
The US leader also reiterated that he wants compensation for the aid the US has provided to Ukraine in the form of access to rare earth minerals.
“We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500bn worth of rare earth.
“And they have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”
Donald Trump
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