As the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine is scheduled to take place in Turkey this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted on the territorial integrity of Ukraine after suggesting earlier that he was prepared for a compromise.
On Sunday, in his video address to the Ukrainian people, President Zelenskyy said that in the talks that are due to take place in Istanbul, his government’s priority will be the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine.
Whereas, earlier in the day while talking to the Russian journalists, Zelenskyy adopted a different tone, saying Ukraine was willing to assume neutral status and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal.
In the video call, Zelenskyy said any agreement between the two countries must be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum.
“Security guarantees, neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it,” he had said.
Ukraine’s chief of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said warned that Vladimir Putin was seeking to seize the eastern part of Ukraine.
“In fact, it is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine,” he said, referring to the division of Korea. Zelenskyy has urged the West to support Ukraine by providing it tanks, planes and missiles to help repel the Russian forces.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s office said on Sunday that the president has agreed to host the talks and has pitched for ceasefire and better humanitarian conditions. The Ukrainian as well as Russian negotiators have confirmed that in-person talks would take place.
Clarifying on President Biden’s “Putin cannot remain in power” speech in Poland, top American officials said on Sunday that the United States does not have a policy of regime change in Russia.
After a month of invasion, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and indicated on Friday it was resetting its objectives in Ukraine to focus on securing the Donbas region, where the Russia-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army for the past eight years.
A local leader of the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” said that the region could hold a referendum on joining Russia very soon.
A similar sequence of events had taken place in 2014 in Crimea, where Crimeans had voted strongly to break away with Ukraine and join Russia. However, the world refused to recognize the vote in Crimea.
The invasion has destroyed several Ukrainian cities, causing an extensive humanitarian crisis and has displaced over 10 million people.
Pope Francis, in his Sunday blessing, called for an end to the “cruel and senseless” conflict.
Russia has continued to station military units to the Ukraine border and is launching missile strikes on Ukrainian forces and military infrastructure.
The United Nations has confirmed 1,119 deaths and 1,790 injuries throughout Ukraine while adding that the real numbers could be higher. Ukraine informed on Sunday that 139 children have died and over 205 have been wounded so far.
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