Newsman: Ukraine’s president has said his government is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia.
Ukraine is willing to become neutral and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, after a Ukrainian negotiator said the next round of face-to-face talks with Russia would be held in Turkey on March 28-30. Volodymyr Zelensky said any such deal would have to be put to a referendum in Ukraine.
He has made similar comments before, but rarely so forcefully.
Zelensky was speaking to Russian journalists in a 90-minute video call, an interview that Moscow authorities had pre-emptively warned Russian media to refrain from reporting. Zelensky spoke in Russian throughout, as he has done in previous speeches when targeting a Russian audience. The Ukrainian leader – speaking in Russian throughout – added that Russia’s invasion has caused the destruction of Russian-speaking cities in Ukraine.
Later, in an overnight video address to his nation, Ukrainian President Zelensky said Ukraine sought peace “without delay”.
Zelensky said Russia’s invasion had caused the destruction of Russian-speaking cities in Ukraine, and said 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,” Zelensky said. Neutrality means a country does not ally itself militarily with others.
Zelensky said Ukraine refused to discuss certain other Russian demands, such as the demilitarization of the country, and 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.
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Mr Zelensky also said that any potential agreement would require a face-to-face meeting with President Putin and that effective security guarantees that Ukraine would not come under attack were essential.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has long demanded a neutral Ukraine, and guarantees that it would not join the Nato military alliance. After the country achieved independence in 1991, as the Soviet Union collapsed, it has gradually veered towards the West – to both the EU and Nato.
