Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky offers Putin Kursk territory swap as one dead in surprise Kyiv missile strike – UK Times

Marc Fogel is a US schoolteacher who had been held in Russia since 2021.

On Tuesday, the White House confirmed that he had been released and would be back on US soil imminently.

Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling after he was detained in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in August 2021 with 17 grams of marijuana – which he said he uses for medical reasons – in his luggage.

He was left out of a historic swap of prisoners last August that involved 24 prisoners – 16 sent from Russia to the West, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and eight sent back to Russia from the West.

At least one person has been killed in Kyiv after multiple Russian strikes this morning caused fires to break out and damage to structures in various parts of the capital.

Ukraine’s air defences are trying to repel a sudden Russian air attack on Kyiv, military and city officials said early today.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a huge industrial fire is raging in the Obolon district, with initial reports indicating damage to nearby buildings.

Emergency crews have been deployed to tackle the fire.

According to the Kyiv Independent, at least four Iskander ballistic missiles were used in the strikes.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready to swap Ukrainian-occupied territory in Kursk for Russian-held territories in Ukraine in potential peace negotiations led by Donald Trump.

“We will swap one territory for another,” Mr Zelensky said in an interview with the Guardian published yesterday.

He did not specify the Ukrainian territories he would ask for. “I don’t know, we will see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority,” he added.

Russia currently occupies about 20 per cent of Ukraine, mostly in the country’s east and south. By comparison, Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Kursk currently covers an area roughly the size of Detroit, according to one estimate from a Ukrainian military analyst last month.

Ukraine’s air defence system is trying to repel a sudden attack on Kyiv, military and city officials said today.

“It is loud in the capital,” mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. “Air defence units are in operation. Stay in shelters!’

Ukraine’s Air Force said that Kyiv was under threat of a ballistic attack.

Air raid alerts were imposed only at the start of the attack.

If Donald Trump withdraws US support for Ukraine, Europe alone will be unable to fill the gap, Volodymyr Zelensky warned.

“There are voices which say that Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans, and I always say no,” the Ukrainian president told The Guardian.

“Those who are helping us to save Ukraine will [have the chance to] renovate it, with their businesses together with Ukrainian businesses. All these things we are ready to speak about in detail,” he said.

The White House’s national security adviser Mike Waltz has said the world is “moving in the right direction” to end the “brutal and terrible” war in Ukraine.

Waltz spoke to reporters as he announced US schoolteacher Marc Fogel had been released after having been held in Russia since 2021.

The development comes as Trump seeks to set the foundation for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.