Ukraine won’t give up land for peace, says Zelensky

Russia must signal retreat before peace talks can resume, says Ukrainian president

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he will not give up his country’s land in return for an end to the war with Russia.

Negotiations for a peace deal cannot resume until Russia demonstrates it is willing to move its troops and equipment back “to the position before 24 February” when Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, Mr Zelensky said in a video address to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He said he would only be willing to discuss an end to hostilities with Mr Putin himself and not via intermediators, adding that a diplomatic way out of the conflict was possible if the Russian president “understands reality”.

Asked whether it was possible to negotiate an end to the conflict, Mr Zelensky said: “Ukraine is not going to concede our territory. We are fighting in our country, on our land.”

He added that the war was being fought “for our land, for our freedom, for our independence, and for our future.”

Months of talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have yielded little progress bar agreements on humanitarian corridors – which are often ignored by Russia.

Zelensky addresses the Davos summit on video link from Kyiv (AP)

Moscow’s lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said on Sunday that Russia was ready to resume talks but “serious preparations” were needed before the presidents could meet, according to the Russian state-owned Tass news agency.

“The heads of state should meet to reach final agreements and sign documents, but not to take photos,” he was quoted as saying.

Discussion of peace talks has opened a rift in the European Union as some member states seek to shift the bloc towards a more conciliatory stance with Russia.

Italy, Hungary and Cyprus urged the EU to call for a ceasefire and negotiations between the warring countries, putting themselves at odds with other member states determined to stick to a hawkish approach with Moscow ahead of a European Council summit next week.

Pro-Russian troops remove branches covering a self-propelled howitzer in Luhansk region on Tuesday (Reuters)

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at Davos on Tuesday, said “Ukraine must win this war” and made no mention of peace talks.

Elsewhere, Russia signalled it may be prepared to end a blockade of Ukrainian ports that has sparked fears of a global food crisis.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko was quoted by Interfax as saying Mosocw was “ready to provide the necessary humanitarian passage” to goods leaving Ukraine on the Black Sea.

A local resident injured in a Russian strike rests in a hospital in Pokrovsk, Donetsk, on Wednesday (AP)

Fighting in the Donbas continued on Wednesday, with Russian forces escalating their assault on two key towns in Luhansk region.

Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, twin towns on opposite sides of the Siversky Donets River, suffered heavy shelling and were encircled on three sides. Their fall would grant Russia complete control over Luhansk – a key war aim of Moscow’s.

Mr Zelensky said: “All the remaining strength of the Russian army is now concentrated on [Donbas] ... the occupiers want to destroy everything there.”