Zelenskyy rejects withdrawal from Donbas 'in exchange' for occupied lands of other regions
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected any notion of exchanging uncontested parts of Donbas for Russian-occupied border areas in the Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts, saying such a trade is impossible and unacceptable during a conversation with journalists on Monday.
“We cannot compare these lands. First and foremost because it is very difficult for [the occupiers] to hold border territories,” Zelenskyy said. “The Russians clearly understand that they will not be able to hold them: the moment will come when we push them out of those territories. So this is not a gift. But Donbas, the east of our state — for them that is the goal. That is why we are not talking about exchanging small border territories for a large part of Donbas or Donetsk Oblast that we still control today.”
Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine would likely require “some exchange of territories for the benefit of both sides.”
Zelenskyy stressed that the territorial issue “is already enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine,” and no one will or can back away from that.