The Kremlin says Ukrainian forces might be ‘destroyed’ or pushed out of seized Russian territories.
Russia has rejected buying and selling the Ukrainian territory it occupies for areas in its personal western Kursk region held by Kyiv forces, hours after launching a barrage of drones and missiles on the Ukrainian capital that killed one individual.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov advised reporters on Wednesday that accepting the thought floated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview late on Tuesday was “unattainable”.
“Russia has by no means and can by no means talk about the subject of exchanging its territory,” he mentioned, saying that Ukrainian forces holding territory inside Russia would both be “destroyed” or pushed out.
Ukraine staged a lightning incursion over the border final August and seized chunks of Kursk. Russian troops are nonetheless battling to eject them. Russia, in flip, controls just below 20 % of Ukraine, or greater than 112,000 sq. kilometres. Ukraine controls about 450 sq. kilometres of the Kursk area, in keeping with open-source maps of the battlefield.
Zelenskyy mentioned, “We’ll swap one territory for an additional,” including that he didn’t know which a part of Russian-occupied territory Ukraine would ask for again. “I don’t know, we are going to see. However all our territories are essential, there isn’t a precedence,” he mentioned.
The Kremlin announcement got here after Ukrainian authorities mentioned that one individual had been killed and a minimum of 4 others had been wounded – together with a toddler – in an assault on Kyiv that broken residence blocks, workplace buildings and civilian infrastructure.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned it had carried out a “group missile strike” on Ukrainian military-industrial websites that produce drones and claimed all targets had been hit.
‘Not making ready for peace’
Zelenskyy wrote on social media after the assault that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “not making ready for peace – he continues to kill Ukrainians and destroy cities”.
“Solely robust steps and stress on Russia can cease this terror. Proper now we’d like the unity and the assist of all our companions within the struggle for a simply finish to this conflict,” he added.
Zelenskyy is because of meet US Vice President JD Vance on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Safety Convention. US President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Keith Kellogg, who’s tasked with drawing up a proposal to halt the combating, can be resulting from go to Ukraine subsequent week.
Trump took workplace promising to finish the conflict in Ukraine, probably by leveraging billions of {dollars} in US help despatched below former President Joe Biden, to power Kyiv into territorial concessions.
Trump additionally mentioned on Monday that Ukraine “may be Russian someday”.
