No compromise has yet been found on the issue of Donbas, and territorial questions must be resolved at the level of national leaders.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said this while speaking with journalists.
“So far, we have been unable to find a compromise on the territorial issue, specifically regarding part of eastern Ukraine — the Donetsk region. We believe that tough demands imposed on Ukraine are definitely not a compromise. They imply a change in Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which is exactly the format the Russian side has publicly signaled. We have repeatedly said that we are ready for compromises that lead to a real end to the war, but not ones that involve changing Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Zelenskyy said.
He noted that the U.S. side understands this position and has proposed a compromise solution involving a free economic zone.
“The issue of control over any territory, even a free economic zone, must also be fair — namely, Ukraine must control the territories it currently controls. This is roughly our vision, which was emphasized for the first time in a trilateral format in Abu Dhabi — openly between the parties,” the President stressed.
According to Zelensky, the talks in the UAE concluded with an agreement to return to these issues at the next meeting, once the Russian side receives a response from its leadership on the initiatives voiced. During the negotiations, he said, the Ukrainian side had the ability to communicate оперативно with the President, while the Russian side did not.
The President also emphasized that territorial issues can only be resolved at the level of leaders.
“I have repeatedly said that such complex issues will be decided at the level of leaders, and this is understandable, because it is the leaders who have the appropriate mandate,” Zelenskyy said.
In his view, the least problematic solution would be the formula “we stay where we are.”
He added that the issue of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is also part of the territorial question.
“So when we talk about the ZNPP and about the east of our country, and other regions from which there were signals that the ‘Russians’ were ready to withdraw, and so on — all of this is a territorial issue. That is why the territorial question remains the key one that still needs to be resolved,” the President concluded.
