Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed a land exchange with Russia to end the ongoing conflict, contingent on U.S. President Donald Trump facilitating negotiations between the two countries. In an interview with The Guardian published on Tuesday, Zelenskyy suggested that Ukraine would be willing to swap part of the Kursk region, which Kyiv has controlled since its surprise August incursion into Russia.

“We will swap one territory for another,” Zelenskyy said, adding that while Ukraine’s specific territorial demands were yet to be determined, all Ukrainian lands were crucial. “There is no priority,” he noted.

President Trump has long promised to quickly bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, claiming progress in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has stated that Putin “wants people to stop dying in the war,” though his team acknowledges that both sides would need to make concessions for a peace deal to be reached.

Meanwhile, Russia continues its aggressive tactics, including large-scale drone attacks targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure and advances in the Donetsk region in the east. Moscow, however, has shown little willingness to engage in peace talks.

In response to Zelenskyy’s proposal, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed it, claiming that Ukrainian forces in Kursk were of minimal military significance. “Zelensky makes similar statements to hide the true scale of the disaster for the Armed Forces in this direction,” Zakharova said.

While Russian forces have expanded their control, occupying an additional 3,600 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory last year, Kyiv maintains control of around 500 square kilometers in the Kursk region.