KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP on Friday that his army has recently liberated swathes of territory in southern Ukraine, even as Washington and Moscow pressure Kyiv to cede other regions to end the war.
Zelensky, 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 US-led talks aimed at ending the conflict, Kyiv's army was recapturing land from invading Russian forces, Zelensky told AFP in an exclusive interview in the presidency in Kyiv.
"I won't go into too many details," Zelensky 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.
