Ukraine won’t recognize occupied territories as Russian – Zelenskyy

12:39, 19.03.2025 1 min read

Ukraine will not recognize the occupied territories as Russian, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

"As for the territories, this will probably be one of the sensitive and difficult issues in future negotiations. (...) For us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian, temporarily occupied territories, as Russian. We will not go for it," Zelenskyy said at a joint meeting with the President of the Republic of Finland Alexander Stubb in Helsinki on Wednesday.

According to Zelenskyy, the first step is still an unconditional ceasefire, "even if it is necessary to go through some paths, like ceasefire in the sky, ceasefire at sea, but it will still reach ceasefire on the entire front. (...) And then we will move on to other issues, among which I am sure territorial issues will be raised."