Trump hints at Russia-Ukraine ‘land swapping’ ahead of summit with Putin

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he plans to discuss “land swapping” between Russia and Ukraine at a summit with Vladimir Putin on Friday and hinted that both countries would need to make territorial concessions to end the war.

Speaking about his upcoming meeting with the Russian leader at a White House press conference, Trump said any peace settlement would involve “changes in land” — including “some bad stuff for both” countries — but also suggested he would try to persuade Putin to abandon Russia’s claims to at least part of the Ukrainian territory it currently occupies.

“Russia’s occupied a big portion of Ukraine,” Trump said. “They’ve occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine”.

It is unclear which areas Trump foresees Russia ceding to Ukraine, as Ukrainian forces no longer hold any significant Russian territory after losing their foothold in the Kursk region in April. Russia, meanwhile, currently controls some 20% of Ukraine.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Trump’s suggestion that Kyiv could cede some of its territory to Moscow as part of a deal to end the war, stressing that Ukraine’s constitution prohibits him from changing the country’s borders.

On Monday, Trump said he was “a little bothered” by Zelensky’s refusal to consider territorial concessions and his insistence that any exchanges of land with Russia would require a national referendum.

“He [Zelensky] has got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap. Because there’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, an unnamed Western official told The Telegraph on Monday that Zelensky could agree to cede territory already held by Russia — namely, freezing the frontline where it is — in exchange for weapons deliveries and a path to NATO membership.

While Zelensky is not expected to attend Friday’s Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, the US president said he would speak with his Ukrainian counterpart “out of respect” immediately afterwards, before briefing other European leaders.

Trump added that, following his initial “feel-out” meeting with Putin on Friday, he would aim to organise a direct summit between Putin and Zelensky.

Zelensky, who warned over the weekend that Putin would try to “deceive” Trump, said on Monday that the Russian leader was “definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war”.

“There is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to Ukrainians. “On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations”.

“Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting exactly as before,” the Ukrainian president concluded.