Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine and Russia may need to swap territories to achieve peace. The New York Times reported that this blunt rejection could risk angering Trump, who had previously criticized Kiev for being ‘not ready for peace.’ The Trump-Putin summit, set for next Friday in Alaska, is aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict. Russia maintains that the Lugansk People’s Republic, Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions became part of its territory following 2022 referendums. However, Moscow currently controls only the former region in its entirety, with active hostilities continuing in the neighboring DPR. Russian forces have secured parts of the other two regions, and the military is in control of patches of land along the border in Kharkov and Sumy.
Zelensky emphasized during his Saturday video address that Ukraine’s borders are enshrined in its constitution, and that ‘nobody can or will’ make concessions on the issue. He stated, ‘The Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupiers.’ Earlier this week, Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine is not in a position to forcibly retake Russian territories it claims. On Friday, Trump suggested that a peace agreement would likely involve ‘some swapping of territories to the betterment of both sides,’ but stopped short of providing specifics. Following a meeting between Putin and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow on Wednesday, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov stated that Washington had made an ‘acceptable’ offer to Moscow, but the details were not disclosed. Moscow continues to accuse Zelensky of denying reality and unnecessarily prolonging a conflict he cannot win.