The Kremlin has said that Russia will never consider exchanging occupied Ukrainian land for parts of its Kursk region, dismissing a proposal outlined by Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Guardian.
Zelenskyy revealed in an hour-long interview earlier this week that he intended to propose a straightforward territorial exchange with Russia to facilitate an end to the war, including the transfer of Ukrainian-held pockets of Kursk.
“We will swap one territory for another,” Zelenskyy said, adding 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.
Responding on Wednesday to the proposed exchange, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, stressed that Moscow strongly rejected all offers to trade territory.
“This is impossible,” he told reporters at a daily briefing. “Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the exchange of its territory.”
Peskov added: “Ukrainian units will be expelled from this territory. All who are not destroyed will be expelled.”
Ukraine seized approximately 500 sq miles (1,300 sq km) in the Kursk region last summer in a surprise incursion that dealt a major embarrassment to Putin. In response, Russia has deployed tens of thousands of troops, including North Korean forces, in an effort to reclaim the territory.
According to open-source monitor groups, Russia has since reclaimed about half of the lost territory in the Kursk region while still controlling just under 20% of Ukraine’s land.
The two armies are engaged in a fierce and bloody battle for control of the Kursk region, now a key battleground in the latest phase of the war. Much of the fighting is centred around the town of Sudzha, which remains under Ukrainian control.
An estimated 2,000 Russian civilians are believed to be living under Ukrainian rule in the Kursk region, their fate largely unknown due to the lack of phone and internet signals, which has in effect cut off communication with the outside world.
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Observers believe Moscow is eager to reclaim territory in Kursk as it seeks to enter expected US-brokered peace talks from a position of strength.
During his annual call-in with the nation in December, Putin assured Russians that their troops would eventually expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk but declined to specify a timeline.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has redeployed some of its most experienced troops to the region, aiming to hold on to the land as a bargaining chip.
Article by:Source: Pjotr Sauer
