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.”
Because the zone is a wasteland anyways, and the few that live there were pro Russian as far as I remember
If a part of your country doesn’t want to belong to you anymore, then it shouldn’t (like Taiwan or Hong Kong)
The vast majority regions that Russia currently occupied/demanding were overwhelmingly pro-Ukrainian (opposing to Russian aggression) before the invasion. Or are you referring the annexation referendum or some vote results made under occupation by foreign military force? If you brutally invade a neighboring country and force its people to make an annexation referendum at gunpoint, surely the result will favor you, and you can invade other countries wherever you want like that.
Source?
The views and opinions of South-Eastern regions residents of Ukraine: April 2014 https://kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=302&page=1&y=2014&m=4
Thank you. I think there is some slight nuance here but these numbers certainly refute the narrative that the locals wanted to join Russia. Assuming the poll was conducted fairly. I’m not familiar with the agency behind it.