'Russia has not occupied 25% of Ukraine': Zelenskyy says Kyiv is ready to freeze front lines to end war
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Photo: President's Office)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is willing to freeze fighting along the current front lines to end the war as soon as possible, he told ABC News in an interview on Oct. 24.
"Yes, we are ready to end this war as soon as possible ... to freeze the front line," the president said.
The journalist initially asked Zelenskyy whether Kyiv was prepared to give up 25% of Ukraine's territory. Zelenskyy said no, noting that Russia had not occupied 25% of the country.
"When someone talks about 25%, it means we would have to give up the entire Donbas, and then the Russians would control 25%. Right now, they control 19.3%," Zelenskyy said.
He stressed that Ukraine was willing to freeze the current line of contact but emphasized that Kyiv would never recognize the occupied territories as Russian. Zelenskyy acknowledged that he had "heard such proposals."
On Oct. 21, Zelenskyy also said in an interview with the conservative U.S. television network Fox News that he was prepared to accept a peace agreement that would freeze hostilities along the current front line.
However, Kyiv would not recognize the occupied territories as Russian. Zelenskyy has also repeatedly stressed that Russia's territorial demands extend far beyond Donbas.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Vladimir Putin seeks to control at least the territories the Kremlin refers to as "Novorossiya", including Crimea and eight oblasts in eastern and southern Ukraine.
New trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States are expected to take place in the first half of November.
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