Kyiv ready to swap conquered Kursk land for Russian-occupied territories

Should peace negotiations take place, Kyiv will offer its controlled parts of Russia’s Kursk region for Ukrainian territories that Russia currently occupies, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with London-based The Guardian newspaper.

“We will swap one territory for another,” he said.  

However, Ukraine’s second war-time president did not specify which occupied Ukrainian territories might be included in the exchange. 

“But all our territories are important, there is no priority,” he said.  

The president reaffirmed his readiness for peace talks, but emphasized that Ukraine must enter them from a “position of strength.”  

Feb. 6 marked six months since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in the Kursk region that took place in August. 

Zelenskyy on the previous day said the operation would be a crucial factor in any negotiations with Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin..  

“When we reach the stage of a diplomatic settlement, you’ll see the kind of demands Russia will have regarding the Kursk front. This was a very important step,” he said after meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, as reported by the Ukrinform state-run news agency.  

Meanwhile, Russian officials have been restricting so-called military bloggers from providing frontline situational reports in the region, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). 

The Kremlin has been trying to suppress information about military developments in Kursk.  

“Russian officials are reportedly attempting to constrain Russian milblogger reporting about the current frontline in Kursk Oblast, likely in response to concerns that the West will pressure Russia into trading Russian territory for occupied Ukrainian territory,” ISW analysts said.  

An earlier dispatch from The New York Times, citing Ukrainian and U.S. officials, reported that North Korean troops fighting for Russia in Ukraine had been pulled from the Kursk front due to heavy losses.  

Since the start of the operation, Russia is estimated to have lost more than 38,000 soldiers in the Kursk region, Zelenskyy said on Jan. 6.