Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to Volodymyr Zelensky's statement about his readiness to give up territory, stressing that the lands in question are not Ukrainian but historically Russian. The head of state made the remarks to journalist Pavel Zarubin, according to infohub.kz.
According to reports, Zelensky had earlier said that Ukraine would agree to a peace deal with Russia if it lost around 25 percent of its territory.
"First of all, my attitude to this matter is that these are not their territories — these are the territories of historical Russia," the head of state said.
Putin also said it was inappropriate for Volodymyr Zelensky to talk about territorial losses.
"The people living in these territories voted — first, for state independence, and second, I want to emphasize this, they voted for reunification with the Russian Federation. So talking about any territorial losses, it seems to me, is inappropriate," he noted.
Recall that the American leader had earlier said the conflict in Ukraine would soon be over. And Volodymyr Zelensky, during talks in Oslo, spoke of a possible trilateral meeting of the leaders of the United States, Russia and Ukraine.
The day before, in an interview with FOX, the Ukrainian leader said he would agree to a freeze of the war with Russia along the current front line. He also said during an online exchange with the media that Kyiv supports the start of trilateral talks with Moscow and Washington.