Russia rejects idea of exchanging territories with Ukraine in peace agreement

Russia on Wednesday rejected an exchange of occupied territories with Ukraine as part of a peace deal after a lethal shelling against Kiev that left one dead.

Ukraine's president, Volodimir Zelenski,raised the idea of an exchange of territories with Russia on Tuesday after nearly three years of conflict.

But after a lethal Russian bombardment by drones and thousands hit Kiev on earing Wednesdaydawn, Zelenski said the Kremlin was not interested in preparing for peace.

AFP journalists heard a barrage of explosions over the Ukrainian capital and saw the body of a person covered with a plastic blanket in a street littered with debris.

Zelensky said he was willing to give up areas seized by his troops in Russia's Kursk region in exchange for Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow in an interview with Britain's The Guardian newspaper published Tuesday.

The Kremlin dismissedthis proposal and claimed it is "impossible."

"Russia has never and will never discuss the exchange of its territory," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He added that Ukrainian forces on Russian territory will be "destroyed" or expelled.

A bombardment against Kiev

The conflict left hundreds of thousands dead and wounded and on Wednesday Zelenski announced that one person was killed and at least four wounded, including a child, in a shelling in Kiev that damaged several residential buildings, offices and civilian infrastructure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not preparing for peace, he continues to kill Ukrainians and destroy cities," Zelenski wrote on social media after the attack.

"Only with firm measures and pressure on Russia can the terror be stopped. Right now we need the unity and support of all our partners in the fight for a just end to this war," the Ukrainian leader added.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that it launched a missile bombardment againstdrone production plants in Ukraine and claimed that the attack "hit all targets."

Nearly three years after the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine faces difficulties on the front lines and uncertainty over the continuation of vital U.S. aid with the return of Republican, Donald Trump to the White House.

In recent weeks, Ukraine, Russia and the United States have issued statements hinting at the possibility of a negotiation to end the conflict. Zelenski is scheduled to meet Friday with the vice president, JD Vance, on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany.

President Donald Trump vowed to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine upon his return to the White House, after billions of dollars in aid for Kiev were delivered by the U.S. during the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

The US special emissary, Keith Kellogg, tasked with drawing up a proposal to end the conflict, will visit Ukraine next week.

Russia-US exchange.

Trump received on Tuesday at the White House Marc Fogel, an American who had been imprisoned in Russia since 2021 on drug possession charges and who was released by Moscow and returned to his country, after negotiation by Washington's emissary, Steve Witkoff.

Trump affirmed that Russia acted "very well" in Fogel's release and said he hopes it is "the beginning of a relationship" to be able to "end that war."

The Kremlin spokesman noted that both sides agreed to Fogel's release in exchange for the return to Russia of a Russian citizen detained in the United States, whose identity will be disclosed when he is back in his country.

Peskov said that "this type of agreement is unlikely to be a turning point (in resolving the conflict in Ukraine)," but said it could "be an element in strengthening trust" between Moscow and Washington, which is currently at an all-time low.