Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would offer to exchange lands controlled by Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region in exchange for the return of Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia, if negotiations are held, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"We will exchange one territory for another", Zelensky said in an interview with the British newspaper "The Guardian".
Zelensky did not specify which Ukrainian territories he would request. "I don't know, we'll see. "But all our territories are important, there is no priority," he added.
Russia currently occupies about 20% of Ukrainian territory in the east and south of the country, and the full-scale invasion, which began on February 24, has been going on for almost three years. Ukraine launched a surprise offensive in western Russia's Kursk region last August and still holds some of the territory it initially seized, although its size has shrunk in the wake of Russian counterattacks.
Kiev officials say the Kursk operation was intended to protect border regions and that the captured territory could be used as bargaining chips in potential peace talks, which appear more likely after Donald Trump returns to the White House, Reuters notes.
Zelensky has repeatedly stressed that any plan to end the war in Ukraine must include strong security guarantees from allies to ensure that further Russian aggression is not possible.
On Friday, Trump said he would likely meet with Zelensky this week to discuss ending the war. On Sunday, he said he had contacted Russian President Vladimir Putin, without specifying when. The Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied the information about these contacts.