Ukraine’s red line in talks with Russia is recognition of occupied territories as Russian — Zelenskyy

The President said this during a press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

“As for the territories, this will probably be one of the most sensitive and difficult issues in the upcoming negotiations. The first step is still an unconditional ceasefire, even if there are some ways to get there, such as silence in the sky, silence at sea, but it will still lead to silence on the entire front,” Zelenskyy said.

He called the ceasefire “the right step if we really want to end the war with just peace.”

“And then we will move on to other issues, among which, I am sure, territorial issues will be raised. For us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian. We will not go for it,” the President of Ukraine emphasized.

• Earlier, Russian media wrote that leader Vladimir Putin may demand that Crimea, Sevastopol, the "LPR" and "DPR", Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions be recognized as Russian in the talks.