The Ukrainian people would reject a peace deal that involves Ukraine unilaterally withdrawing from the eastern Donbas region and handing it over to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Axios. Zelensky also said he is ready to discuss troop withdrawals, but has called on Moscow to pull its forces back by an equivalent distance and has rejected Russia’s claims over the Donbas region.

He also added that Washington and Kyiv have agreed that any deal must be put to a referendum of the Ukrainian people.

However, if an agreement means Ukraine has to sacrifice sovereignty over Donbas and the citizenship of its people, it would be turned down.

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