Kyiv does not exclude that Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the neutral status of Ukraine, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of Zelensky’s office, said.
“It will be, first of all, a detailed conversation about peace and a ceasefire. Neutral status with a clear package of security guarantees is an option that may also be on the table,” Podolyak said in a comment to the Ukrainian UNIAN news agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that he had decided on a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances “require decisive and immediate action from us, the people’s republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.”
The President of the Russian Federation stated that the entire responsibility for the bloodshed would be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine, and called on the Ukrainian military not to carry out the criminal orders of the Ukrainian authorities, to lay down their arms and go home.
Later, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the Russian Armed Forces did not carry out any missile, air or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine: military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields and aviation were disabled by high-precision weapons. The ministry assured that the civilian population is not in danger.