WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned he was able to swap land in negotiations with Russia, which freed not less than one American prisoner in what United States President Donald Trump described on Tuesday (Feb 11) as a goodwill gesture on ending the warfare.
Zelenskyy has prior to now refused to cede any territory after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
However in an interview with The Guardian printed on Tuesday, he mentioned Kyiv was prepared for critical talks forward of a Friday assembly on the Munich Safety Convention with US Vice President JD Vance – a vocal critic of US army assist to Ukraine.
“We are going to swap one territory for one more,” Zelenskyy mentioned, including that he was able to commerce land in Russia’s Kursk area – which Ukraine seized in a shock offensive final yr.
He acknowledged that Ukraine wouldn’t have the ability to take pleasure in safety ensures simply with European companions.
“Safety ensures with out America aren’t actual safety ensures,” he mentioned.
Trump took workplace vowing to finish the warfare in Ukraine, probably by leveraging billions of {dollars} in US help despatched underneath former president Joe Biden, to pressure Kyiv into territorial concessions.
Within the first identified go to by a member of the Trump administration to Russia since he returned to the White Home final month, envoy Steve Witkoff secured the launch of Marc Fogel, an American jailed since 2021 on drug costs.
“We have been handled very properly by Russia,” Trump advised reporters of Fogel’s launch.
“Really, I hope that is the start of a relationship the place we are able to finish that warfare.”
Trump greeted Fogel on the White Home on Tuesday night time after he landed again within the US, recounting a gathering with Fogel’s 95-year-old mom at a marketing campaign rally the place he promised her to “get him out”.
The White Home described his launch as a part of an “trade”, with Trump saying on Tuesday night time {that a} second detainee could be launched on Wednesday with out providing additional particulars.
There was no speedy remark from Russia, the place state-run information companies quoted the White Home announcement.
Russia’s Supreme Courtroom in December refused to contemplate an enchantment Fogel made in opposition to his 14-year sentence.
Witkoff, a property developer and good friend of Trump, is formally the Center East envoy and earlier performed a key function in pushing ahead a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
Trump additionally introduced a go to to Ukraine by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – one other official in his cupboard on a mission unrelated to his major job.
