Moscow: The Kremlin has firmly rejected a proposal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to exchange territory in an effort to bring an end to the ongoing war.
In an interview with The Guardian, Zelenskiy suggested a direct land swap, offering Russia parts of its western Kursk region currently controlled by Ukrainian forces in return for undisclosed Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. Kyiv launched an unexpected cross-border incursion into Kursk in August last year, seizing land that Russian troops are still fighting to reclaim.
"We will swap one territory for another," Zelenskiy stated, without specifying which occupied areas Ukraine would demand in return. "All our territories are important, there is no priority," he added.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov swiftly dismissed the idea. "This is impossible. Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the exchange of its territory," he told reporters during a briefing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously vowed to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk but has not set a timeline for when this would happen. Peskov reiterated this position, stating, "Ukrainian units will be expelled from this territory. All who are not destroyed will be expelled."
Currently, Russia controls nearly 20% of Ukraine—over 112,000 square kilometers—while Ukraine holds around 450 square kilometers of Russia's Kursk region, according to open-source battlefield maps. Despite suffering significant, though undisclosed, losses in troops and equipment, Russian forces have been advancing at their fastest pace since 2022.
The proposed land swap marks a new diplomatic turn in the ongoing conflict, but with Russia ruling out any negotiations over territory, the war shows no signs of de-escalation.
