The president specified that Washington and Kyiv have agreed any U.S.–brokered peace deal with Moscow must be put to a nationwide referendum.
Zelenskyy said a deal that simply called for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to abandon Donetsk Oblast, sacrificing sovereignty and the people who live there, would fail at the ballot box. But if an agreement merely froze the war along the current front line, he said, Ukrainians would accept it.
“I think that if we will put in the document ... that we stay where we stay on the contact line, I think that people will support this [in a] referendum; that is my opinion,” the president told Axios.
In an interview with The Atlantic on Feb. 12, he said he doubted a peace plan that would be favorable to Ukraine but unfavorable to Russia could be implemented. He called proposals that would remove Ukrainian forces from Donetsk Oblast dangerous, arguing that Russia’s real ambitions extend beyond that region.
The Atlantic also reported, citing sources, that Kyrylo
Budanov, head of the presidential office, and his team are seeking an option
that could keep a demilitarized zone in Donbas, preventing the Russians from
moving into any territory Ukraine might pull its troops from.