KYIV, March 22, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
renewed an offer of direct peace talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin late Monday, declaring the status of disputed territories could be up
for debate and a possible referendum.

  Zelensky told local media that he was ready to meet Putin "in any format"
to discuss ending the almost one-month-old war that has shattered several
Ukrainian cities.

  Zelensky said even the status of Russian-occupied Crimea and Russian-backed
statelets in Donbas was up for debate.

  "At the first meeting with the president of Russia, I am ready to raise
these issues," he said.

  "There will be no appeals or historical speeches. I would discuss all
issues with him in great detail" Zelensky said.

  Russia has declared Crimea part of Russia and recognised the independence
of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's
Republic in eastern Ukraine.

  All three areas were part of Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet
Union and are at the centre of a decade-old crisis that on February 24 spilt
into invasion and full-scale war.

  "If I have this opportunity and Russia has the desire, we would go through
all the questions," he told Ukrainian journalists in an interview published
by media outlet Suspilne.

  "Would we solve them all? No. But there is a chance, that we partially
could -- at least to stop the war," he added.

  Although Zelensky signalled that he was willing to talk about the status of
the three areas, he has repeatedly insisted all three were part of Ukraine
and that his country would not surrender.

  Zelensky also warned that any peace agreement involving "historic" changes
would be put to a national referendum.

  Sonia Mycak, a Ukraine expert at the Australian National University said
the promise of a popular vote likely dooms any suggestion of Kyiv ceding
territory.

  "The vast majority, like 80 percent, of Ukrainians are saying that they do
not want to relinquish" those territories, Mycak said, citing two recent
public opinion polls.

  "I think it would be rejected by the population, I really do. Very high
numbers of Ukrainians are saying 'we should not stop fighting'," she added.

  "Ukrainians see themselves as under existential threat. It's not just the
loss of territory it's the fact that they would have to live as Russians,
there would be heavy Russification, there would be autocratic control."

  A month of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials have so far failed
to stop or even slow a war that has forced 3.5 million Ukrainians to leave
the country.

  But with Russia's much-larger military seemingly unable to occupy the
entire country or topple Zelensky's ever-more-popular government, the
Ukrainian leader said the war was inevitably going to end at the negotiating
table.

  "It is impossible not to have a solution. By destroying us, he is
definitely destroying himself," Zelensky said of Putin.

  "I do not want us to go down in history as heroes and as a nation that does
not exist... And if they destroy themselves, they won't even have any heroism
left."