While hinting at possible concessions in an interview with independent Russian media, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine’s priority is to ensure its sovereignty and “territorial integrity” – preventing Russia from splitting the country, which Ukraine the West says it could now be Moscow’s target. However, Zelensky added: “Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state – we are ready to achieve it.” The Ukrainian leader has proposed so much in the past, but rarely so strongly, and the latest remarks come as the two sides have said talks will resume on Tuesday. Russia has long urged Ukraine to abandon any hope of joining NATO’s Western alliance, which Moscow sees as a threat. Zelensky said the issue of neutrality, which would keep Ukraine out of NATO or other military alliances, should be put to Ukrainian voters in a referendum after the withdrawal of Russian troops. Zelensky has also long stressed that Ukraine needs its own security guarantees as part of any deal. “We have to come to an agreement with the president of the Russian Federation and in order to reach an agreement, he has to leave on foot… and come to meet me,” he said in an interview. that Russia forbade in its means to publish. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that the two presidents could meet, but only after negotiating the basics of a possible deal. “The meeting is necessary when we have clarity on solutions to all key issues,” Lavrov said in an interview with Serbian media. He accused Ukraine of simply wanting to “imitate the talks”, but said Russia needed concrete results. In an overnight speech to his nation, Zelensky said Ukraine was seeking peace “without delay” in talks to begin in Istanbul. The location was agreed after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, the Turkish leader’s office said. The negotiators are expected to arrive on Monday. Previous talks, both on video and in person, have failed to make progress on ending a more than a month-long war that has killed thousands and displaced more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes – including nearly 4 million their country. The war has led Western countries to impose punitive sanctions on Russia, squeezing its economy. Putin recently said that Russia would demand from “unfriendly” countries to pay for its gas exports only in rubles – a move that economists said seemed to be trying to support the collapsing Russian currency. Germany’s energy minister said on Monday that the Group of Seven major economies had rejected the request. Robert Habeck told reporters that “all G-7 ministers fully agreed that this (would be) a one-sided and clear breach of existing conventions.” As Russia’s offensive has stopped in many areas, its troops have resorted to pounding Ukrainian cities and towns with rockets and artillery in a fierce war. Fierce fighting erupts on the outskirts of Kiev, but Russian troops remain miles from the city center, and their goal of quickly encircling the capital is faltering. In the village of Stoyanka near Kyiv, Ukrainian soldier Serhiy Udod said Russian troops had taken up defensive positions and suffered heavy casualties. He said “they probably thought it would be like Crimea”, which Russia annexed in 2014. “But here it is not like in Crimea. We are not happy to see them. “Here they are suffering and being killed.” A tougher-than-expected Ukrainian resistance – reinforced by weapons from the US and other Western allies – has been credited with swamping Russian forces. However, Zelenskyy has made increasingly outrageous appeals to Western countries to do more, including sending fighter jets, blaming political leaders on Sunday for a lack of courage. NATO allies are reluctant to give Zelensky the most powerful equipment he has been asked for, fearing it could spark a much wider war. In fact, the Russian invasion has worried at least some Americans that the United States would be drawn directly into the conflict and could be targeted with nuclear weapons, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center. Moscow now says it is focusing on security in the entire eastern Donbass region, which has been controlled in part by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, accused Russia of seeking to divide Ukraine into two, comparing it to North and South Korea. He predicted that the Ukrainian guerrilla war would derail such plans. Ukraine, meanwhile, has banned reports of troop movements and equipment that have not been announced or approved by the military. Journalists who break the law could face between three and eight years in prison. The restrictions come after Ukrainian authorities criticized social media users for posting photos or videos of troop movements. In a widely publicized case, a Kiev resident was accused by security services of posting pictures on TikTok showing Ukrainian military vehicles near a shopping mall that was later destroyed by a Russian missile strike. Russia has claimed that Ukraine used the site to supply rocket-propelled grenades.
Andrea Rosa in Kharkov, Nebi Qena in Kyiv, Cara Anna in Lviv and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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