Ukraine threatens to stop dialogue with Russia if it conducts referendums on the annexation of its territories
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that if Moscow went ahead with referendums in his country’s occupied regions on whether to join Russia, there would be no talks with Ukraine or its international allies.
Russian forces and their separatist allies now control swathes of territory in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine as well as in the south of the country, after launching what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” on its neighbor’s territory.
Officials in the two regions spoke of the possibility of holding referendums.
In his video evening speech, Zelensky said that Kyiv adheres to its position of not ceding any territory to Russia.
“The position of our country remains the same as it has always been,” he added… We won’t give up anything we own”.
“If the occupiers continue to go on the path of sham referendums, they will close themselves off any opportunity to hold talks with Ukraine and the free world, which the Russian side will clearly need at some point,” Zelensky added.
