Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed a wish to pursue the path of diplomacy to resolve the conflict with Russia.

"I want to stop the war and end it. There is a diplomatic path and a military one. Any healthy person always chooses the diplomatic path because they know that even if it's difficult, it could stop the losses of thousands, tens of thousands and with such neighbors – hundreds of thousands, and maybe even millions of victims. This is not wanted," Zelensky said at a press conference in Kyiv on Saturday.

"And any leader, whether he wants it or not, has no right to cancel the diplomatic path," he said.

At the same time, he said that if people are killed in Mariupol and a referendum is held in pseudo-republics, Ukraine will withdraw from the negotiation process.