Zelenskyy is confident that Putin does not want Ukrainian lands. There is no point in leaving Donbas

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not support the idea of "exchanging" territories, arguing that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin does not really need additional land. According to the correspondent of LIGA.net , at a meeting with journalists, the head of state stressed that such an "exchange" would only lead to a new war.

"How many territories does Russia have? What is one third of our Donetsk region for them? What is the entire territory of our state to them? They have an unpopulated territory many times larger than our state. I mean, there are some people there, but there are no developed cities or no life at all," the President emphasized .

He is convinced that this is not a land issue, because Russia is the largest territory in the world.

"What is Putin doing? He needs to occupy our country not in terms of territory. He does not need a sovereign Ukraine. And that's the whole game. All these territories do not play any role for him," Zelenskyy is convinced .

He asked if the issue is not kilometers, what is the point of starting from the 9,000 square kilometers of Donetsk region that Ukraine now controls?

"Just to help him prepare a new military operation? That means we need security guarantees that will preserve, first of all, our state, our sovereign state, our independence," Zelensky said.

The President asked what the "compromise" would be if Ukraine withdrew from Donbas, since neither NATO nor EU membership nor other guarantees were promised to Ukraine.

In particular, as Zelenskyy emphasized, the Russians would not allow the deployment of American bases on the territory of Ukraine.

"So, you're afraid of America's bases? Are you afraid that the Americans will attack? The Russians say: "No, we are not afraid of that." Oh, you're not afraid? You just want to attack and don't want the Americans to be there? What are we talking about? We need to understand Putin's goals and the meanings that he constantly demonstrates and says. And if you understand this, it will become clear what is happening and what he is doing," the president added .

• on August 9, Trump announced that had agreed to meet with Putin in Alaska on August 15. He confirmed that the US is considering a "territory swap" between Ukraine and Russia as part of this process "for the benefit of both sides.".
• Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will not give its land to the occupier and the answer to the Ukrainian territorial issue is in the Constitution.
• The President is convinced that if Ukraine withdraws from Donbas of its own free will or under pressure, this will open the third war, because these territories will become a new springboard for Russia's offensive in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kharkiv regions.