Kremlin says annexed Ukrainian territory is 'non-negotiable'

MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Thursday ruled out any negotiation over the status of five Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed despite not fully controlling four of them.

"The territories which have become subjects of the Russian Federation, which are inscribed in our country's constitution, are an inseparable part of our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"This is undeniable and non-negotiable," he said in a phone briefing attended by AFP.

Russia in 2014 annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula following a brief military operation and a referendum that was criticised as illegitimate by Kyiv and Western powers.

After launching its full-scale offensive, Russia in September 2022 declared the annexation of four Ukrainian regions -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Russian forces control most of the Donetsk and Lugansk region but only parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Moscow also occupies part of the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

Ukraine has seized hundreds of square kilometres of Russia's Kursk region and President Volodymyr Zelensky has raised the possibility of an "exchange" of territory with Moscow -- a notion ruled out by Russia.

Russian forces have been pushing further into eastern Ukraine in recent months and have seized back territory in the Kursk region.

The Russian defence ministry on Friday said it had re-captured the village of Nikolsky near the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha.