Late last night, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky again offered to hold direct peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that the status of the disputed territories could be discussed and possibly a referendum.
Zelensky told local media that he was ready to meet with Putin “in any format” to discuss ending the nearly month-long war that has shaken several Ukrainian cities.
He said that even the status of the Russian-occupied Crimea and Russian-backed areas of Donbass was under discussion.
“I am ready to raise these issues at the first meeting with the President of Russia,” said the Ukrainian president.
“There will be no appeals or historical speeches. I will discuss all issues with him in great detail,” Zelensky said.
Russia declared Crimea part of Russia and recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, all three oblasts have been part of Ukraine and are at the center of a decade-long crisis that escalated into an invasion and full-scale war on February 24.
“If I have such an opportunity and Russia wants, we would discuss all issues,” he told Ukrainian journalists in an interview with Suspilne.
“Will we solve them all? No. But there is a chance that we will be able to partially – at least stop the war,” he added.
Although Zelensky made it clear that he was ready to discuss the status of the three regions, he repeatedly insisted that all three regions were part of Ukraine and that his country would not surrender.
The President of Ukraine also warned that any peace agreement that provides for “historic” changes will be put to a national referendum.
Sonia Mikak, an expert from Ukraine at the Australian National University, says the promise of a popular referendum is likely to doom any proposal by Kyiv to cede territory.
The vast majority, about 80 percent of Ukrainians, say they do not want to give up these territories, “Mikak said, citing two recent opinion polls.
“I think it will be rejected by the population, however. Many Ukrainians say that” we should not stop fighting,” she added.
“Ukrainians see that they are under existential threat. It is not just a matter of losing territory, but of living like Russians, there will be strong Russification, there will be autocratic control.”
A month of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials has so far failed to stop or even slow the war that has forced 3.5 million Ukrainians to flee the country.
But as Russia’s much larger army appears unable to occupy the entire country or overthrow Zelensky’s growing government, the Ukrainian leader said the war would inevitably end at the negotiating table.
“It is impossible not to reach a decision. By destroying us, he is certainly destroying himself,” Zelensky said of Putin.
“I don’t want us to go down in history as heroes and as a nation that doesn’t exist … And if he destroys himself, he won’t have any heroism left.”