 "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. File image/ AP")
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will offer to give up the Kursk region if US President Donald Trump successfully negotiates a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
In an interview with The Guardian, Zelenskyy said, “We will swap one territory for another. " He added that he is not yet sure which Russian-held territory of Ukraine he will demand in return.
Kursk has become a significant focal point in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war due to a series of strategic military operations initiated by Ukraine. In August 2024, Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, marking the first time since World War II that Russian territory was occupied by a foreign military.
Zelenskyy is due to fly down to attend the Munich Security Conference where he will meet US Vice-President JD Vance and other White House officials. Here, the Ukrainian president is expected to push Trump’s team to get both the warring parties on the negotiating table.
Zelenskyy on Trump
In the lengthy conversation with the British news outlet, the Ukrainian president said that Europe’s support to Kyiv in the absence of US aid is not enough.
“There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans, and I always say no. Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees” Zelenskyy said.
He said that if America sticks by Kyiv’s side then its companies will have a chance to be part of the reconstruction process of war-battered Ukraine.
“Those who are helping us to save Ukraine will [have the chance to] renovate it, with their businesses together with Ukrainian businesses. All these things we are ready to speak about in detail,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Trump has said that if Kyiv wants to keep receiving aid it should be provided with $500 billion worth of Ukraine’s mineral riches.
In an interview with Fox News, POTUS said that the US should get a share of Ukraine’s vast mineral trove to compensate hundreds of billions of dollars that Washington has spent to aid Ukraine during the ongoing war.
Zelenskyy said that he first proposed this idea to Trump during their meeting in New York last September. He plans to follow up with a “more detailed plan” outlining opportunities for US companies in both postwar reconstruction and the extraction of Ukraine’s natural resources.