Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said there will be slaughter if Ukraine regains control over the Donbas sector of the border without endorsing the amnesty law for Donbas.

"I think he [Putin] told me so twice at our meetings. We explained that we are different people, completely different, we are free and democratic. We understand that Ukrainians live there. We have respect for Ukrainian citizens, and there will be no slaughter; this is what I have told Mr. Putin," Zelensky said in the Pravo na Vladu program of the television channel 1+1 on Thursday night.

He said he does not know who Putin "sees in his [Zelensky's] place" but that's a different person. "I do not know who you [Putin] have discussed such serious matters with before, what experience you have had with other countries, but we are a different country, a different government, and we place human life above everything," Zelensky said.