Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday evening renewed an offer of direct peace talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, saying the status of the disputed territories could be up for debate and a possible referendum.
Zelensky told local media he was ready to meet Putin “in any format” to discuss ending the nearly month-long war that has destroyed several Ukrainian towns.
Zelensky said even the status of Russian-occupied Crimea and small Russian-backed states in the Donbass was up for debate.
“In the first meeting with the Russian president, I am ready to raise these questions,” he said.
“There will be no calls or historic speeches. I would discuss all issues with him in 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.
The three regions were part of Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union and are at the center of a decade-old crisis which, on February 24, turned into a full-scale invasion and war.
“If I have this opportunity and Russia wants it, we will go through all the issues,” he told Ukrainian journalists in an interview published by Suspilne media.
“Would we solve them all? No. But there is a chance that we partially can – at least to stop the war,” he added.
Although Zelensky indicated that he was ready to talk about the status of the three areas, he repeatedly insisted that the three were part of Ukraine and that his country would not surrender.
Zelensky also warned that any peace deal involving “historic” changes would be subject to a national referendum.
Sonia Mycak, a Ukraine specialist at the Australian National University, said the promise of a popular vote likely doomed any suggestion of ceding territory to Kyiv.
“The vast majority, like 80%, of Ukrainians say they don’t want to give up” these territories, Mycak said, citing two recent public opinion polls.
“I think it would be rejected by the population, really. A very large number of Ukrainians say ‘we must not stop fighting’,” she added.
“Ukrainians see themselves as existentially threatened. It’s not just the loss of territory, it’s the fact that they would have to live like Russians, there would be strong Russification, there would be autocratic control.”
A month of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials has so far failed to stop or even slow a war that has forced 3.5 million Ukrainians out of the country.
But with the much larger Russian army seemingly unable to occupy the whole country or overthrow the increasingly popular government of Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader said the war would inevitably end at the negotiating table.
“It is impossible not to have a solution. By destroying us, he is definitely 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 they destroy each other, they won’t even have heroism anymore.”
