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Ukrainian troops will not leave the territories they still control in Donbass voluntarily, Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky has said, dismissing the suggestions they could be included in a potential land swap with Russia.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Zelensky claimed that ceding land in Donbass to Russia would only allow it to start a new war in a couple of years and push deeper into Ukraine. 

“We will not leave Donbass. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the main issue—our territories are illegally occupied,” Zelensky stated, alleging that the territory would only serve as a “springboard” for Moscow to launch a new campaign against Ukraine in a couple of years. 

“Any issue of territories cannot be separated from security guarantees. Otherwise, now they want to gift them about 9,000 square kilometers; this is about 30% of the Donetsk region, and this is a springboard for their new aggression,” he claimed.

The remarks come after US President Donald Trump repeatedly said the potential peace deal between Moscow and Kiev was bound to involve a land swap and require territorial concessions from both sides. “They’ve [Russia] occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” Trump said on Monday.

The Lugansk (LPR) and Donetsk (DPR) People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions became part of Russia following a series of referendums held in 2022. While the LPR was fully liberated by the Russian military earlier this year, Moscow’s control over other regions remains partial. Kiev maintains its claim on the four territories, as well as on Crimea, which voted to join Russia shortly after the 2014 armed Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev. 

Zelensky has repeatedly publicly rejected any territorial concessions to Russia, maintaining his territorial claims. Moscow, however, has insisted that any potential peace deal must involve Ukraine’s withdrawal from the country’s new regions.