WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated he was able to swap land in negotiations with Russia, which freed no 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 revealed on Tuesday, he stated 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 stated, including that he was able to commerce land in Russia’s Kursk area – which Ukraine seized in a shock offensive final 12 months.
He acknowledged that Ukraine wouldn’t be capable of take pleasure in safety ensures simply with European companions.
“Safety ensures with out America should not actual safety ensures,” he stated.
Trump took workplace vowing to finish the warfare in Ukraine, probably by leveraging billions of {dollars} in US help despatched below former president Joe Biden, to power Kyiv into territorial concessions.
Within the first recognized 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 release of Marc Fogel, an American jailed since 2021 on drug fees.
“We have been handled very properly by Russia,” Trump informed reporters of Fogel’s launch.
“Really, I hope that is the start of a relationship the place we will 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 “alternate”, with Trump saying on Tuesday night time {that a} second detainee can be launched on Wednesday with out providing additional particulars.
There was no fast remark from Russia, the place state-run information companies quoted the White Home announcement.
Russia’s Supreme Courtroom in December refused to think about an attraction Fogel made towards his 14-year sentence.
Witkoff, a property developer and buddy of Trump, is formally the Center East envoy and earlier performed a key position 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 main job.
