Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyj said on Tuesday that he was ready for such an exchange, in a situation where the warring parties are positioning themselves vis-à-vis the new government in the USA.
It's impossible. Russia has never and will never engage in discussions about exchanging territory, says Dmitrij Peskov, spokesperson for Russia's president Vladimir Putin, at a press conference.
Volodymyr Zelenskyj has floated this idea in an interview with The Guardian, but emphasizes that the USA must first get Russia to the negotiating table.
On the Russian side, it has long been said that Vladimir Putin is open to negotiations, but it has always been on Russian terms.
Ukraine controls a small part of the Russian border region of Kursk since a counteroffensive last summer.
The USA and Russia have carried out a prisoner exchange, which the American president Donald Trump has described as a hopeful step in the countries' relations.
In an interview with Fox News the other day, Trump chose to respond vaguely about Ukraine, which so far has been holding off the Russian major invasion with significant military backing from primarily the USA.
They (Ukraine) might make a "deal", or they might not make a "deal". They might become Russians one day, or they might not become Russians one day, said the American president.
