Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed he would be willing to swap land in negotiations with Russia to bring the ongoing conflict between the two countries to an end.
Mr Zelenskyy has in the past refused to relinquish any territory, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
In an interview with The Guardian that was published on Tuesday, he said that Kyiv was ready for serious talks ahead of a meeting on Friday at the Munich Security Conference with United States Vice-President JD Vance — who has been a vocal critic of US military support to Ukraine.
“We will swap one territory for another,” Mr Zelenskyy said, adding that he was ready to trade land in Russia’s Kursk region — which Ukraine seized in a surprise offensive last year.
Mr Zelenskyy has previously refused to cede any land to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He also acknowledged Ukraine would not be able to enjoy security guarantees solely with the backing of European partners.
“Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees,” he said.
In a response to Mr Zelenskyy’s suggestion, Russia’s deputy security council chairman Dmitry Medvedev dismissed a potential land swap as “nonsense”
Mr Zelenskyy’s comments come almost four weeks since Donald Trump was sworn into office, vowing 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 administration secures release of US man jailed in Russia
In the first known visit by a member of the Trump administration to Russia since Mr Trump returned to the White House, envoy Steve Witkoff secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American jailed since 2021 on drug charges, on Tuesday local time.
Mr Fogel, 63, was teaching at the Anglo-American School in Moscow when he was arrested in August 2021 over 21 grams of cannabis and cannabis oil allegedly found with him at the Moscow airport.
American school teacher Marc Fogel was welcomed into the White House by Donald Trump, after being freed from jail in Russia.
He had been living in Russia since 2012 and was reported to have been teaching English to Russians at his penal colony.
Mr Trump described Mr Fogel’s release as a gesture of goodwill by the Kremlin.
“We were treated very nicely by Russia,” the president told reporters about Fogel’s release.
“Actually, I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war.”
Mr Trump greeted Mr Fogel at the White House after he landed back in the US, recounting a meeting with Mr Fogel’s 95-year-old mother at a campaign rally where he promised her to “get him out.”
The White House described his release as part of an “exchange,” with Mr Trump saying that a second American detainee would be released on Wednesday, without offering further details.
There was no immediate comment from Russia, where state-run news agencies quoted the White House announcement.
Russia’s Supreme Court in December refused to consider an appeal Mr Fogel made against his 14-year sentence.
Mr Witkoff, a property developer and friend of Mr Trump, is officially the US Middle East envoy and earlier played a key role in pushing forward a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
The president also announced a visit to Ukraine by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — another official in his cabinet on a mission unrelated to his primary job.
Trump’s Russia comments slammed as ‘insanity’
Earlier in the week, Mr Trump had floated the possibility that Ukraine “may be Russian some day” — words quickly welcomed by Moscow.
“The fact that a significant part of Ukraine wants to become Russia, and has already, is a fact,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukrainians reacted with scorn to the US president’s remarks.
“It is some kind of senile insanity,” Kyiv resident Daniil told AFP.
A Ukrainian soldier on a street in central Kyiv, who only gave the name Mykola, said of Mr Trump: “He can think anything and say anything, but Ukraine will never be Russia.”
Mr Trump in the past has voiced admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and notoriously backed his denial of the US intelligence community’s finding of Russian interference in the Republican’s 2016 election victory.
But he has also called on Russia to compromise in recent weeks, saying that Mr Putin needs to cut heavy losses.
Both armies are trying to secure an advantage on the battlefield ahead of possible talks.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that its troops had captured the small village of Yasenove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
And a Russian missile strike on Kyiv killed at least one person on Wednesday, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
Mr Zelenskyy accused Mr Putin of “not preparing for peace” in the hours after that strike, saying the missiles had hit apartment buildings, offices and civilian infrastructure.
“Only strong actions and pressure on Russia can put an end to this terror,” he said in a post on X.
“We need the unity and support of all of our partners in the fight for a just end to this war.”
In Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, regional prosecutors said Russian bombing killed a 40-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman.
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