Zelenskyy says he would accept front-line freeze if ceasefire began tomorrow

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared that Ukraine will never recognise the territories under Moscow’s occupation as Russian, but if a ceasefire were to be implemented tomorrow, he would agree to all hostilities stopping at the current front line and Ukraine would regain its lands later through diplomacy.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Axios

Details: Zelenskyy was asked whether he would consider making any territorial concessions in the pursuit of peace.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "No, we will never recognise these territories which are temporarily occupied as territories of Russia. We can’t do it."

More details: The interviewer pointed out that he was not asking about recognition, but whether Zelenskyy would agree to say "Well, the border was here and now it's here."

"If you look at today’s situation and if tomorrow there is a ceasefire and everyone understands that we don’t have the power to bring back these territories, we are ready to speak about it," Zelenskyy said. "We are ready to get it back sometime in the future in a diplomatic way, not with weapons. And I think this is a good compromise for everybody."

He added that this implies resolving these issues through dialogue while minimising losses.

Background:

• Recently US President Donald Trump unexpectedly said that Ukraine could regain all its territories and "maybe even go further".
• Previously he had repeatedly claimed that Ukraine would have to make territorial concessions. 
• Zelenskyy described the change in Trump’s rhetoric as a very positive signal

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