Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia.
Speaking in a group interview with Russian journalists, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s neutrality would have to be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum.
In other developments, a leader of one of the separatist regions in Ukraine’s east said he was planning to hold an independence referendum, and Russia confirmed it had used cruise missiles to strike targets in Lviv, ABC news reported.
During the interview, Zelenskyy said Russia’s invasion had caused the destruction of Russian-speaking cities in Ukraine, and the damage was worse than the Russian wars in Chechnya.
“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point,” he was quoted as saying.
Ukraine was discussing the use of the Russian language in Ukraine in talks with Russia, but refused to discuss other demands, such as demilitarisation, the President said.
Zelenskyy said no peace deal would be possible without a ceasefire and troop withdrawals.
He ruled out trying to recapture all Russian-held territory by force, saying it would lead to a third world war, and said he wanted to reach a “compromise” over the eastern Donbas region, held by Russian-backed forces since 2014.
Zelenskyy pushed back against allegations from Moscow that Ukraine had curbed the rights of Russian speakers, saying it was Russia’s invasion that wiped Russian-speaking cities “off the face of the earth”.
He also dismissed as “a joke” allegations made by Russia that Ukraine had nuclear or chemical weapons.
Zelenskyy later said in his nightly video address that he would insist on the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine in any talks.
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