President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that territorial concessions to end the war started by Vladimir Putin would require the backing of a referendum in Ukraine.
However, the Ukrainian president told French media that such a move "is not the best option because we are dealing with Putin and it will be a victory for him if he takes part of our territory."
"Ukraine will never give up its territories because this would be an attack on the Constitution," he said, adding any such move "is a very, very difficult question."
Decisions on Ukrainian territorial integrity cannot be made by the president but by the Ukrainian people, he said in the interview with French outlets Le Monde, AFP and L'Equipe published Wednesday.
"It goes against the Constitution of Ukraine," he said, "those in power have no official right to give up their territories." For that to happen, "the Ukrainian people has to want it," he added, without ruling out a referendum on the matter.
After two and a half years of war, Russia and Ukraine are a long way from negotiations— but recent surveys in Ukraine have pointed to a shift in opinion among the population towards the prospects of talks.
Polling in May by the Kyiv International Institute for Sociology (KIIS) found a third (32 percent) of Ukrainians would accept ceding territory for peace and independence compared with 26 percent in February this year and 9 percent in February 2023.
More than half (55 percent) are still opposed giving up territory to Russia if it would end the war, but this was down from 74 percent in December 2023. Meanwhile, Ukrainian news outlet ZN.UA reported in July that 44 percent of people in the country agreed that the time had come to start negotiations with Russia.
Zelensky told French media that Russian representatives should attend a second summit in November to present a peace plan based on Zelensky's peace formula first announced in November 2022, which includes withdrawing all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
