Ukrainians will not agree to peace deal that cedes Donbas to Russia – Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that the Ukrainian people will reject a peace agreement that would include a Russian demand for the unilateral withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Donbas and the transfer of the region to Russia.
He said this in an interview with Axios, Censor.NET reports.
On the negotiations
Zelenskyy spoke with the outlet’s journalists against the backdrop of negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the United States in Geneva, Switzerland. According to the president, US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner told him that Russia allegedly sincerely wants to end the war, and that he should coordinate this with his delegation ahead of the talks.
However, the president of Ukraine made it clear that he is far more pessimistic. He also advised Witkoff and Kushner not to try to force him to sell a vision of peace that his own people would consider a "losing story."
On Donbas
American mediators proposed that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the parts of Donbas they currently hold and allow the territory to become a demilitarized "free economic zone." Washington did not take a position on which country would have sovereignty over that territory.
Zelenskyy is ready to discuss a troop withdrawal but called on Moscow to pull back its forces by an equivalent distance and rejected Russia’s claims to sovereignty over the zone.
In the interview with Axios, he noted that Washington and Kyiv agreed that any deal must be put to a referendum of the Ukrainian people.
- According to him, if such a deal provides that the Armed Forces of Ukraine simply leave the Donetsk region, sacrificing sovereignty and the people who live there, it will fail in a vote.
"Emotionally, people will never forgive this. Never. They will not forgive... me, they will not forgive [the U.S.]. This is part of our country, all these citizens, the flag, the land." Zelensky said, adding that Ukrainians "can't understand why" they would be asked to give up additional land.
If the agreement merely freezes the current line of contact, the Ukrainian people will accept it, the president believes.
"I think that if we put into the document… that we remain where we are on the line of contact, I think people will support this in a referendum. That is my opinion," Zelenskyy added.
