Ukraine ready to discuss adopting neutral status: Zelensky

MOSCOW: Ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia but it would have to be guaranteed by third parties and put to a referendum, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Zelensky was speaking to Russian journalists in a 90 minute video call, an interview that the Russian authorities had pre-emptively warned Russian media to refrain from reporting, foreign media reported on Sunday night.

Mr Zelensky spoke in Russian throughout. He said Russia's invasion had caused the destruction of Russian-speaking cities in Ukraine, and said the damage was worse than the Russian wars in Chechnya.

"Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point," Zelensky said. "This point of the negotiations is understandable to me and it is being discussed, it is being carefully studied."

Ukraine was discussing the use of the Russian language in Ukraine in talks with Russia, but refused to discuss other Russian demands, such as the demilitarisation of Ukraine, Zelensky added.

The Kremlin earlier this month said Sweden and Austria offered models of neutrality that Ukraine could adopt to help end Russia's invasion. Ukraine rejected the proposal saying only Kyiv could design a system that would be acceptable to Ukrainians.

Negotiations to end more than a month of fighting in Ukraine have focused on Ukraine staying out of Nato, disarmament and security guarantees. The two sides are due to meet next for a second round of face-to-face talks next week in Turkey.

Earlier, Ukraine's military intelligence chief said Russia wanted to split Ukraine into two, as happened with North and South Korea, and vowed "total" guerrilla warfare to prevent a carve-up of the country.

After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions to focus on securing the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army for the past eight years.

"In fact, it is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine," Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, said in a statement, referring to the division of Korea after World War Two.

He predicted Ukraine's army would push back Russian forces. "In addition, the season of a total Ukrainian guerrilla safari will soon begin. Then there will be one relevant scenario left for the Russians, how to survive," he said.

Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson also dismissed talk of any referendum in eastern Ukraine. "All fake referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void and will have no legal validity," Oleg Nikolenko said.

Zelensky demanded in a late-night television address on Saturday night that Western nations hand over military hardware that was "gathering dust" in stockpiles, saying his nation needed just 1% of NATO's aircraft and 1% of its tanks.

Western nations have so far given Ukraine anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles as well as small arms and protective equipment, without offering any heavy armour or planes. "We've already been waiting 31 days. Who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it really still Moscow, because of intimidation?" Mr Zelensky said, suggesting Western leaders were holding back on supplies because they were frightened of Russia.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said Russia had started destroying Ukrainian fuel and food storage centres, meaning the government would have to disperse stocks of both in the near future.