Zelenskyy on possible ceasefire: territorial issues will be most challenging

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that "the issue of territories will be the most difficult" in the ceasefire negotiations.

Source: Zelenskyy during a Zoom briefing 

Quote: "The issue of territories will be the most difficult. I feel it, we understand it. This will be a challenge for all of us. And we will defend Ukraine as much as possible on these issues, but it will not be easy for us.

President Trump understands even now that we do not legally recognise Russian-occupied territories as Russian."

"... there are territories, cities and towns separated by one or more lines of contact. If you let this line remain in some places, you will leave cities or towns without life. No one will return to half of a city... and if this occurs in huge cities, it will become a 'Berlin'.

I asked President Trump directly, 'Do we want Berlin?' or do we want many such cities? I believe we both understand that this is not an option. The Berlin Wall is not an option, so we shall attempt to resolve this issue."

Background: 

• Mike Waltz, US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, said that Ukraine could lose territory as part of the agreement to end the war in exchange for "future security guarantees, the future status of Ukraine".
• This is not the first such signal from the Donald Trump administration.
• For example, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Ukraine would have to make concessions on the territories that Russia has seized since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war.

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