Russia Rules Out Exchanging Ukrainian Territory for Kyiv-Controlled Parts of Kursk Region

The Kremlin forcefully declared on Wednesday that Russia would never accept the swap of Ukrainian territory it controls for parts of Russia's western Kursk region currently held by Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered this idea in an interview with The Guardian, suggesting an exchange of territories outright as a means to end the war. He proposed giving up some of the Kursk that Ukrainian forces now occupy for Russian-occupied Ukrainian land.

In August last year, Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border assault, taking pieces of Kursk, where Russian forces have since been struggling to retake lost ground.

"We will exchange one piece of land for another," Zelensky stated, though he remained uncertain about which Russian-held territories Ukraine would demand in return. "I don’t know yet; we’ll see. But every part of our land is significant—there is no hierarchy," he emphasized.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov immediately ruled out the proposal, declaring Moscow would never get involved in any territorial swap.

"This is unthinkable," Peskov said during a daily news briefing. "Russia never agreed and will not agree to handing over its land."

Speaking during his traditional year-end Q&A in December, President Vladimir Putin told Russians Ukrainian troops would be expelled from Kursk eventually but declined to specify a timetable.

Peskov confirmed that stance, stating, "Ukrainian forces will be driven out of this territory. Those who are still alive will be driven out."

At the moment, Russia controls around 20% of Ukraine territory—over 112,000 square kilometers—and Ukraine controls about 450 square kilometers of Kursk oblast territory, which are publicly available maps of battle movements.

Russian forces made their biggest territorial gains since the war began in 2022 in 2024, but at a very high cost, with heavy—though undisclosed—equipment and manpower losses.