Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that his forces have recently regained territory in the country’s south, even as both Washington and Moscow push Kyiv to concede other areas in pursuit of a settlement.
Zelenskyy, speaking just days before the gruelling war's fourth anniversary, said the United States and Russia are still insisting that Kyiv give up its embattled Donbas region, a scenario that Ukraine has repeatedly ruled out.
But even against the backdrop of U.S.-led talks aimed at ending the conflict, Kyiv's army was recapturing land from invading Russian forces, Zelenskyy told AFP in an exclusive interview in the presidency in Kyiv.
"I won't go into too many details," Zelenskyy said, "but today I can congratulate our army first and foremost – all the defence forces – because as of today, 300 (square) kilometres have been liberated."
AFP was unable to verify the claim.
Ukraine, which has been suffering manpower and resource shortages compared to Russian forces, was still facing pressure to cede Donbas, a heavily industrialised and fortified region in the east that Russia has claimed as its own, Zelenskyy said.
"Both the Americans and the Russians say that if you want the war to end tomorrow, get out of Donbas," the Ukrainian leader told AFP.
Ukraine has repeatedly ruled out pulling its troops out of the region, saying such a move would only embolden Russia.
Kyiv's troops still control around one-fifth of the Donetsk region, while Russia has seized roughly the entire Lugansk region – the two are together referred to as the Donbas.
It said that it would not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.
U.S.-mediated talks in Geneva earlier this week failed to make progress on the key issue of territory in any deal to end the conflict.
Moscow has vowed it will capture the entire Donbas by force if Kyiv does not withdraw, with President Vladimir Putin showing no signs of compromise on his hardline demands to end his four-year invasion.
