President Zelensky Says Ready To Compromise On Status Of Donbass Territory As Part Of Peace Agreement

Rescue workers in a building hit by a Russian attack. (Wimedia Commons/dsns.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukraine is willing to be neutral and compromise on the status of the eastern Donbass region as part of a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, even as other top Ukrainian officials accused Russia of aiming to divide the country in two.

President Zelensky delivered his message directly to Russian journalists in a video call, who the Kremlin had previously warned Russian media not to report, saying that any deal must be guaranteed by a third party and put in a referendum.

"Security guarantees and neutrality, the non-nuclear status of our country. We are ready to do it," he said, speaking in Russian.

At the same time, President Zelensky said Ukraine refused to discuss certain other Russian demands, such as the demilitarization of the country.

Speaking more than a month after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Zelensky said there would be no peace deal without a ceasefire and troop withdrawal.

He ruled out attempts to retake all Russian-held territory by force, saying it would lead to a third world war. and said he wanted to reach a "compromise" over the eastern Donbass region, which has been held by Russian-backed forces since 2014.

Meanwhile, in contrast to President Zelensky, Ukraine's head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to seize eastern Ukraine.

"In fact, it was an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine," he said, referring to the division of Korea after the Second World War.

After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to capture any major Ukrainian city. On Friday signaled it was reducing ambitions to focus on securing the Donbass region, where Russia-backed separatists have been battling the Ukrainian army for the past eight years.

A local leader in the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk said on Sunday the region could soon hold a referendum on joining Russia, as happened in Crimea after Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.

Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to cut ties with Ukraine and join Russia, a vote that was rejected by much of the world.

Meanwhile, Kyrylo Budanov himself estimates that the Ukrainian army will repel Russian troops, by launching a guerrilla war attack.

"Then there will be one relevant scenario left for Russia, how to survive," he said.

Separately, a spokesman for Ukraine's foreign ministry also rejected talk of a referendum in eastern Ukraine.

"All bogus referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void and will have no legal validity. Cruel and senseless," Oleg Nikolenko told Reuters.

Moscow says the goals of what Putin calls "special military operations" include the demilitarization and "denazification" of its neighbors. Ukraine and its Western allies call this a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.

The invasion has devastated several Ukrainian cities, caused a major humanitarian crisis, and displaced about 10 million people, almost a quarter of Ukraine's population.

The United Nations has confirmed 1,119 civilian deaths and 1,790 injuries across Ukraine but says the real number is likely to be higher. Ukraine said on Sunday 139 children had been killed and more than 205 injured so far in the conflict.

To note, Ukraine and Russia agreed on two humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from frontline areas on Sunday, including allowing people to leave by car from the southern city of Mariupol, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.