Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready for a dialogue with Russia on the issue of Crimea, as well as the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR). The day before, the Kremlin said that the Russian Federation would stop the military operation in Ukraine on three conditions: if Kiev recognizes Crimea as Russian, recognizes the independence of the DNR and LNR, and also refuses to join “any bloc.”

In an interview with the US tv channel ABC, noted that no one except the Russian authorities recognized the independence of the DNR and LNR, and also called them “pseudo-republics”.

“But we can discuss and find a compromise on how the occupied territories and these republics will exist. What is important for me is how people who want to be part of Ukraine will live there,” the president said.

At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine “is not ready for ultimatums”. He is convinced that “Vladimir Putin needs to start talking, start a dialogue”. According to Vladimir Zelensky, his Russian colleague “lives in an information bubble”.

“I think he is in this bubble, and we don’t know how realistic the information that he receives,” the President of Ukraine said.

He also said that he was not ready to surrender because he was the elected president. He confirmed that Western countries offered him to leave Ukraine, but he refused to do so. In addition, Mr. Zelensky commented on the words of Vladimir Putin that the military operation is being carried out to “denazify and demilitarize” Ukraine.

“I think that denazification in this case is the destruction of the nation… This is pure Nazism, this is the destruction of the Ukrainian nation,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy added. Vladimir Putin has previously explained that denazification means the elimination of the influence of radical Nazi ideology on the politics of Ukraine.