Trump says land swaps key to possible Ukraine-Russia peace deal

U.S. President Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on 31 July, 2025
Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia would require both sides to cede territory, ahead of his planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

Speaking at a White House press conference on Monday, Trump said the upcoming meeting with Putin would be a “feel-out” session to assess whether Moscow is willing to make a deal to end the conflict. He added that he could know “within two minutes” if progress was possible.

“So I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, you’ve got to end this war. You’ve got to end it,” Trump told reporters.

The president said a future meeting could involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, potentially turning into a three-way discussion aimed at securing a rapid ceasefire. Trump also said he planned to speak to European leaders soon after his meeting with Putin.

While Trump has previously mentioned the idea of land swaps, neither Kyiv nor Moscow has shown interest in ceding territory. European officials have expressed concern that major concessions to Russia could undermine Western security in the long term.

Ukraine has been attempting to reclaim areas occupied since the start of the conflict in February 2022, which it describes as an unprovoked invasion. Russia, which currently holds about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, claims it acted to address security threats from Kyiv’s move towards closer ties with the West.

“There’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump said, adding that Russia had taken “very prime territory” but that “we’re going to try to get some of that territory back” for Ukraine.

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