Exclusive: Zelenskyy says Ukraine plans to hold seized Russian territory indefinitely

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC News that Kyiv is planning to indefinitely hold Russian territories it seized in a surprise incursion last month.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC News on Tuesday that Kyiv is planning to indefinitely hold Russian territories it seized in a surprise incursion last month as it tries to force President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

“We don’t need their land. We don’t want to bring our Ukrainian way of life there,” he said during his first one-on-one interview since Ukraine’s high-stakes incursion into Russia.

Ukraine will “hold” the territory as it is integral to his “victory plan” to end the the war, Zelenskyy said, adding he will present the proposal to international partners like the United States.

“For now, we need it,” he said of the territory Ukraine is now holding in Russia.

Nearly a month ago, Ukrainian troops swept into Russia’s Kursk region in a secret operation that has challenged the status quo of the two-and-a-half-year-old war. Kyiv now claims it controls nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory and has taken hundreds of Russian prisoners of war. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/zelenskyy-ukraine-russia-territory-seized-putin-kursk-rcna169280

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