Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on resolving the situation in Donbas, first president of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk declares that he is ready to negotiate with people from the certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO), but only those who represent civil society and did not take part in the war.

"In order to convince Moscow, it is necessary not only the desire of Kyiv, it is difficult to convince them. When this desire is the people who live there, and those who are outside [the occupied territories], I emphasize that this is 1.7 million people, then Moscow will hear better and will also meet people halfway. I believe in it," Kravchuk said.

Answering the question with whom exactly in the occupied part of Donbas he is ready to sit down at the negotiating table, Kravchuk said that, first of all, with civil society.

"These are people who do not participate in governance, did not participate in the war, directly with a rifle in their hands and did not torture those who were captured. These are people who work in higher educational institutions, in schools, in public organizations, I am ready to listen to them," he said.

According to Kravchuk among the changes in the work of the Trilateral Contact Group, it is planned to introduce there "people or a person who knows Donbas well, who lived and worked in Donbas."

"The main thing for us is to hear those people who live in Donbas. We declare everywhere that they are Ukrainians, this is our territory. It is Ukrainian. However, in order to establish peace, we need to know not only the desire of those 'leaders' who exist in Donetsk and Luhansk regions today, and most importantly the people who live there," the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG said.

Kravchuk said that the people from ORDLO are not demanding an end to the war now, as they do not see their prospects, but they see Ukraine as an enemy.

"We must act in such a way that people believe. Well, for example: instead of empty talk about statuses, about everything else, we propose to introduce a standard of free economic zones in these areas. If this is adopted, then people immediately start working, investments come, farms are being restored, destroyed housing is being restored, then people return and see the prospect. Today they do not see such a prospect. They think that they have a prospect in Russia, but they are mistaken," Kravchuk said.