Ukraine rejects land-for-peace offer

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used back-to-back public addresses on May 22 and May 23 to restate two linked Ukrainian positions: Kyiv will not trade away occupied territory in negotiations, and it will keep pressing Russia with long-range strikes. In his May 22 evening address, Zelenskyy said 590 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory had been liberated since the start of 2026 and said “the trend is certainly not in the occupier’s favor.” On May 23, he said Ukraine had carried out a “successful long-range sanction against Russia” at a distance of 1,700 kilometers from Ukraine’s border. Ukrainian officials have not publicly framed those statements as a new policy. They fit a line Kyiv has repeated for months: occupied territory remains Ukrainian under its constitution, and military pressure is part of its negotiating position. ### What exactly did Zelenskyy reject? Zelenskyy’s May 22 address did not spell out a specific foreign proposal, but it ruled out giving ground in exchange for peace by tying Ukraine’s diplomacy to battlefield performance and continued pressure on Russia. The same official site carried his statement that Ukraine’s position was stronger “both on the battlefield and in our long-range operations,” in a readout of his talks that day with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany. (president.gov.ua) The clearest constitutional formulation came in an earlier presidential address on Aug. 9, 2025, when Zelenskyy said, “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the Constitution of Ukraine.” In that same speech, he said, “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.” Those lines remain the most direct official explanation of Kyiv’s refusal to recognize Russian control over occupied regions as part of a settlement. (president.gov.ua) ### Why are officials calling these areas “temporarily occupied”? Ukrainian state institutions use “temporarily occupied territories” as the formal term for land held by Russian forces. The Ministry for Development and related state bodies describe policy toward those territories in terms of reintegration and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders. (president.gov.ua) That language matters because it leaves no room in official Ukrainian terminology for permanent cession. In government usage, occupation is treated as a current condition, not a legal transfer of sovereignty. ### What is the 590-square-kilometer figure meant to show? Zelenskyy’s May 22 address said 590 square kilometers had been liberated since the start of the year. (dp-reintegration.gov.ua) He coupled that number with thanks to airborne assault troops and other units “effectively repelling Russian assaults,” presenting the figure as evidence that Ukrainian forces were still regaining ground despite Russia’s continued offensive operations. The number is also part of Kyiv’s diplomatic message. (dp-reintegration.gov.ua) In the same May 22 cluster of statements, Zelenskyy said European partners saw Ukraine’s position as stronger because of both front-line fighting and long-range operations. ### What do we know about the 1,700-kilometer strike? Zelenskyy said on May 23 that Ukraine had carried out a “successful long-range sanction against Russia” at a distance of 1,700 kilometers from the state border. (president.gov.ua) The presidential site summary did not identify the target in the excerpt available publicly through search results, but it linked the strike to pressure on Russian oil export revenues and said “all forms of sanctions against Russia and its accomplices must continue to function.” Social media posts circulating on May 23 tied that claim to a reported strike in Russia’s Perm Krai and said the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, was involved. I could verify Zelenskyy’s 1,700-kilometer claim on the official presidential site, but I could not independently confirm from accessible official SBU pages the specific plant name or the claim that production was halted, because direct access to those domains was blocked in search results. (president.gov.ua) ### How should readers read these two messages together? May 22 and May 23 showed Kyiv presenting diplomacy and military pressure as part of the same argument. Zelenskyy’s line was that battlefield resistance, limited territorial gains and deep strikes into Russia strengthen Ukraine’s hand while leaving its constitutional position unchanged. The next public evidence will come from future presidential addresses and any fuller Ukrainian security-service statements identifying the target and damage assessment from the reported 1,700-kilometer operation. (president.gov.ua 1) (president.gov.ua 2)