Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree of the National Security and Defense Council in October 2022 banning any negotiations with Russia in order to stop separatism in Ukraine.

"We had a decision by the National Security and Defense Council on whether we can talk to Russia. I signed this decree because Putin began to very quickly build a large number of different channels together with separatists and representatives of other states to influence our country, our independence. There were many negotiation processes, many shadow negotiation corridors. I quickly stopped it. I simply stopped separatism in our state. I forbade anyone, any political figures in Ukraine, to conduct any negotiations with the Russian side, with Putin's supporters during the war. This was when their troops were here, in Kyiv region," Zelenskyy said during a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reports.

The president said at that time the Russians were trying to put pressure "through many different corridors" particularly "our parliamentary corps, and the parliamentary corps of our European colleagues, and the United States, etc." "There were many different negotiating platforms. I realized that we and our relevant bodies cannot control this," he said.

The president said he had made an absolutely fair decision.

"I am the President of Ukraine, I am the leader of these or those negotiations. I forbade this for everyone else. Putin, of course did not like this, because he had many channels. There are channels that everyone knows about, because the people in question were arrested, and then we exchanged them for our military, and they also used other channels, even in some of our institutions, which I am not yet ready to talk about publicly," Zelenskyy said.

As reported, on October 4, 2022, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) of September 30 On Ukraine's actions in response to Russia's attempt to annex the territories of our state, in order to ensure the security of the Euro-Atlantic space, Ukraine and restore its territorial integrity.

The NSDC decision states that it is impossible to hold negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.