Ukraine Says It Won't Give Up Land to Russia

"Volodymyr Zelensky, in the next phase of talks to end the war in Ukraine, intends to draw a red line at the most contentious issue on the table: the Russian demand for Ukraine's sovereign territory. As long as he remains the nation's president, Zelensky will not agree to give up land in exchange for peace, Ukraine's chief negotiator, Andriy Yermak, told me today in an exclusive interview."

""Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory," said Yermak, who has served as Zelensky's chief of staff, lead negotiator, and closest aide throughout the full-scale war with Russia. "As long as Zelensky is president, no one should count on us giving up territory. He will not sign away territory," he told me by telephone from Kyiv. "The constitution prohibits this. Nobody can do that unless they want to go against the Ukrainian constitution and the Ukrainian people.""

"On the question of land, Ukraine is prepared to discuss only where the line should be drawn to demarcate what the warring sides control. "All we can realistically talk about right now is really to define the line of contact," Yermak said. "And that's what we need to do." The Ukrainian position for the next round of talks, which Yermak laid out for the first time, will sharply constrain the space available for negotiators to reach a peace deal."

Volodymyr Zelensky draws a red line on any territorial concessions, refusing to trade sovereign Ukrainian land for peace as long as he remains president. Andriy Yermak, Ukraine's chief negotiator and closest presidential aide, affirmed that the constitution forbids surrendering territory. Ukraine will discuss only demarcating the line of contact to define control between warring sides. Russian demands include sovereign Ukrainian territory, even areas not under Russian control, and Russia has shown no willingness to abandon those claims. Negotiators have made some recent progress but remain far apart on territory, making a reconciled peace deal difficult. Russia first seized Crimea in 2014.

Read at The Atlantic