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Ukraine Would Trade Land Seized In Kursk For Territory Occupied By Russia, Zelenskyy Says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he plans to offer Russia territory seized by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in exchange for land occupied by Russia, if two sides sit down at the negotiating table to seek an agreement to end the war.
“We will exchange one territory for another,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper. But he added that he did not know what territory Kyiv would request from Moscow in exchange for part of the Kursk region.
“I don’t know, we’ll see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority here,” Zelenskyy said in the interview published on February 11. In the past he has refused to give up any territory taken by Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Zelenskyy, who will meet on February 14 at the Munich Security Conference with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other U.S. officials, described himself as ready for serious talks.
The interview was published as the White House announced that Moscow had released American teacher Marc Fogel, who had been deemed wrongfully detained by Moscow, and just hours ahead of another deadly Russian missile strike on Kyiv.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the missiles hit in the early hours of February 12 after authorities issued a ballistic alert and at least one person was killed and three others wounded.
“Russia carried out a missile strike on Kyiv and the Kyiv region,” Andriy Yermak, head of Zelenskyy’s office, said on Telegram. “This is how [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wants the war to end.”
Emergency services were called to at least four districts of the Ukrainian capital, and the military administration said that fires broke out at several residential and nonresidential buildings.
Strikes in the Sumy region on February 11 killed at least two civilians, injured two others, and caused widespread damage to apartment buildings and other property, the press service of the regional military administration said.
The White House described the release of Fogel as a “good faith” sign by Russia that could help advance the prospects for peace negotiations to end the full-scale war launched by Russia nearly three years ago.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been skeptical about continuing U.S. support for Kyiv, is pushing for a settlement of the war and has increased diplomatic efforts in recent days. His envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, will also attend the Munich Security Conference and will travel to Ukraine afterward.
Trump has complained bitterly about the cost of the aid that the United States has poured into Ukraine and has indicated the United States will demand something in return.
“They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian some day. They may not be Russian some day, but we’re gonna have all this money in there and I said I want it back,” said Trump in an interview with Fox News on February 10.
Zelenskyy told the Guardian that last year he pitched the idea to Trump that the United States would get priority access to Ukraine’s rare earths in a deal to end the war.
Ukraine has the biggest uranium and titanium reserves in Europe, Zelenskyy said, and pointed out to Trump that it would not be in the interests of the United Stats for these reserves to be in Russian hands and potentially shared with North Korea, China, or Iran.
Trump recently has mentioned rare earth minerals being part of a deal on the war in Ukraine and said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would travel to Ukraine to discuss rare earth mineral resources. The White House has not released any details about Bessent’s trip.
Zelenskyy said he intends to present “a more detailed plan” about rare earths and other opportunities for U.S. companies both in the reconstruction of postwar Ukraine to Trump administration officials.
He also said it was crucial for Ukraine’s security that U.S. military support continue.
“Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees,” he said, making another plea for more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems.