Killing our people in Mariupol and  proclamation of pseudo-republics in  occupied territories of Ukraine will put an end to the negotiation process, - Zelensky

This statement was made by head of Ukrainian state on Saturday evening, April 23, 2022, during a press conference in Kyiv metro. His meeting with journalists was broadcast on social networks, Espresso.TV reports.

In particular, according to Zelensky, Russians are preparing something similar in Kherson region.

The same - termination of diplomatic settlement of  conflict unilaterally - will be carried out by Ukraine, as  President stressed, "if our people in Mariupol are destroyed."

"Killing people in Mariupol, if a pseudo-referendum will be announced in new pseudo-republics, Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process," Volodymyr Zelensky said.

At the same time, citizens of Ukraine who found themselves in occupation, president added, "should not help the occupiers" in conducting such an illegal "referendum."

According to Zelensky, current Russian preparations for  "referendum" in Kherson and Kherson region are "not in favor of a diplomatic settlement of this situation."

"It will definitely prevent the end of the war through diplomacy. It is definitely the wrong step of Russia. It shows that everything that happened before, all these meetings of diplomatic groups - it's all fiction and such a political theater, so to say," - summed up Volodymyr Zelenskyy.