Zelenskyy leaves door open to proportional land swap - WSJ

During his visit to Washington, Zelenskyy discussed with Trump possible scenarios for a peaceful settlement of the war. The Ukrainian leader did not exclude that the issue of territorial exchanges could appear on the agenda.

Zelenskyy emphasized that implementing such agreements is extremely difficult. First, it would require the relocation of a large number of people from the conflict zone. Second, the Constitution of Ukraine directly prohibits ceding territories to another state, which makes the process legally impossible without amendments through a referendum.

Despite this, the president noted that he could consider only the option of proportional exchanges, but without clear specifics. He stressed that no decisions regarding Ukrainian territories can be made behind closed doors — the final word must remain with the citizens of Ukraine, the media writes.

On August 18, Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington, where he met with Donald Trump at the White House. Later, leaders of European states also joined the talks.

After the discussion, Trump said that he had called Vladimir Putin. According to him, preparations have already begun for a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. The American president announced that after this bilateral talk, a trilateral summit is also planned.

Moscow, meanwhile, stated that it would examine "the possibility of raising the level of representatives of Moscow and Kyiv at the negotiations."

According to Zelenskyy, Russia expressed interest in first holding bilateral negotiations, and only after that sitting down again at the negotiating table with Trump’s participation.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed that to achieve peace, both sides — Ukraine and Russia — will be forced to make compromises. He added that no country will be able to be completely satisfied with the results of the agreement.