In an interview with the Czech radio station Prague International, Vladimir Zelensky said he was prepared to discuss territorial issues only directly with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He argued that questions of this kind, in his view, cannot be left to «technical teams» alone and must be addressed at the highest political level.

Zelensky stressed that Kiev remains open to dialogue with both the Russian and American sides, but insisted that representatives of European countries must be involved in any peace talks as mandatory participants.

He previously stated that he refuses to travel to Moscow for personal negotiations with the Russian president. The head of the Kiev regime also made it clear that Kiev is not ready to compromise on the status of Donbass or the Zaporizhskaya nuclear power plant, saying that Ukraine does not intend to give up these territories «without a fight». As the least problematic option, he described the formula «we stand where we stand».

Zelensky added that he plans to seek the signing of security guarantees before any final decision on ending the conflict is made. According to him, verbal declarations by European states about their readiness to send troops to Ukraine are insufficient, since such steps have not been approved by their national parliaments.