Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Italy’s Corriere della Sera Ukraine has no intention of leaving Donbas - or the roughly 200,000 people who live there — despite Russian pressure and proposals to trade territory in peace negotiations. He said a withdrawal by Ukrainian forces would open a path for Russia toward the country’s central regions.
Donbas, he said, has strategic defensive importance for Ukraine because key strongholds there help secure the entire national space. A pullout, he added, would give Russian troops free rein and threaten the country’s stability. For that reason, Kyiv considers any territorial swap proposals unacceptable.
“Why should I do that? Because Putin is imposing it as a condition for peace? And will he immediately make new demands? No, I won’t tolerate this,” he said.
In the same interview, he described the difficulties of the negotiating process. Zelensky said talks have stalled over a “20-point plan” and the question of territorial control. According to him, the United States has allegedly proposed exchanging areas, while Russia insists on the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas. In his view, such swaps do not serve national interests because territories left behind would be hard to control, and Ukraine aims to regain its own land.
“Swapping is not in our interests, and Moscow would need significant forces to control the areas we would be leaving: they know we would like to take back what they took from us. Why should we exchange our territory for something else that is part of our homeland?” he added.
On security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelensky said the United States is prepared to offer them only within the framework of an agreement with Russia — a condition Kyiv does not support. He also noted there is a prepared protocol with European partners that remains unsigned. Reconstruction programs, he said, can be implemented only after peace is achieved.
The president said serious negotiations are possible only after the Russian army begins to contract. In his assessment, its size is effectively not growing now because monthly losses are roughly equal to the number of new recruits. Current losses are about 35,000 personnel per month, he said, leaving Russia’s forces stagnant and nearing a crisis.
Earlier, Zelensky said the United States views resolving the conflict through Ukrainian concessions on territory and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but even if Kyiv agreed, the Kremlin would make new demands. In an interview with AFP, he said both the U.S. and Russia are pushing for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas and control over the plant.
He has previously stated that Ukraine is not considering leaving the part of Donetsk region it controls, calling it the country’s real defensive line.
