Ukraine offers Russia land swap

Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to swap land in negotiations with Russia, which freed an American prisoner in a gesture Donald Trump described as a goodwill sign on ending the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to swap land in negotiations with Russia, which freed an American prisoner in a gesture US President Donald Trump described as a goodwill sign on ending the war.

Mr Zelensky described himself as ready for serious talks.

“We will swap one territory for another,” he told The Guardian newspaper.

Mr Zelensky, who in the past has refused to cede any territory ­invaded by Russia, said he was ready to trade land in Russia’s Kursk region which Ukraine seized in a surprise offensive in 2024.

He acknowledged that Ukraine would not be able to enjoy security guarantees just with European partners. “Security guarantees without America are not real ­security guarantees,” he said.

Mr Trump took office vowing to end the war in Ukraine, possibly by leveraging billions of dollars in US assistance sent under former president Joe Biden, to force Kyiv into territorial concessions.

In the first known visit by a member of the Trump administration to Russia since he returned to the White House last month, envoy Steve Witkoff secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American jailed since 2021 on drug charges.

“We were treated very nicely by Russia,” Mr Trump said of Mr Fogel’s release. “Actually, I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war.”

The White House described his release as part of an “exchange” without offering further details.

Asked whether the US had given up anything in return, Mr Trump replied “not much”, but did not elaborate. He later suggested that another prisoner would be ­released as early as Wednesday, without saying whether that was an American or a Russian.

The US envoy in charge of hostages, Adam Boehler, posted a picture showing Mr Fogel savouring a stiff drink on a jet home, where he arrived late on Tuesday with an American flag draped around his neck and a meeting at the White House with Mr Trump.

“I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now,” he said. “I will forever be indebted to President Trump, to Steve over there.”

“It’s great to have you back,” Mr Trump replied.

President Donald Trump welcomes former detainee Marc Fogel to the White House after he was freed from Russia on Tuesday night. Picture: AFP

Mr Fogel, 63, was teaching at the Anglo-American School in Moscow when he was arrested in August 2021 over 21g of cannabis and cannabis oil allegedly found with him at Moscow airport.

His family and supporters said he had been travelling with medically prescribed marijuana.

He was serving a 14-year prison sentence and was designated by the Biden administration as being wrongfully detained.

Mr Fogel had been living in Russia since 2012. He was reported to have been teaching English to Russians at his penal colony.

Mr Trump also announced a visit to Ukraine this week by ­Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – another official in his cabinet on a mission unrelated to his ­primary job.

Mr Zelensky will meet US Vice-President JD Vance – a vocal critic of US military support to Ukraine – at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

Mr Trump told Fox News in an interview aired on Monday that Ukraine “may be Russian some day”, words quickly welcomed by Moscow.

“The fact that a significant part of Ukraine wants to become Russia, and has already, is a fact,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring to Moscow’s 2022 annexation of four Ukrainian regions after referendums widely criticised internationally as fraudulent.

Ukrainians reacted with scorn to Mr Trump’s remarks.

“It is some kind of senile insanity,” Kyiv resident Daniil said.

A Ukrainian soldier on a street in central Kyiv, who only gave the name Mykola, said of Mr Trump: “He can think anything and say anything, but Ukraine will never be Russia.”

Mr Trump in the past has voiced admiration for Putin and notoriously backed his denial of the US intelligence community’s finding of Russian interference in the Republican’s 2016 election victory. But Mr Trump in recent weeks has also called on Russia to compromise, saying that Putin needs to cut heavy losses.

Both armies are trying to secure an advantage on the battlefield ahead of possible talks.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that its troops had captured the small village of Yasenove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk ­region.

AFP