{"id":3269,"date":"2025-12-12T07:29:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=3269"},"modified":"2025-12-12T13:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:48:09","slug":"zelensky-claims-referendum-on-territorial-concessions-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/12\/zelensky-claims-referendum-on-territorial-concessions-necessary\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky claims referendum on territorial concessions necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>US President Donald Trump earlier expressed frustration over the slow progress toward a peace deal with Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky has indicated the country may hold a referendum on territorial concessions ahead of any peace deal with Moscow. Kiev has previously ruled out any recognition of former Ukrainian regions as part of Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Zelensky suggested that the territorial dispute with Russia over Donbass \u2013 widely considered to be the most serious stumbling block on the way to peace \u2013 should be put to a vote.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe Russians want the whole of Donbass \u2013 we don\u2019t accept that. I believe that the Ukrainian people will answer this question. Whether in the form of elections or a referendum, the Ukrainian people must have a say.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>His remarks came as US President Donald Trump urged Zelensky, whose presidential term expired last year, to hold elections. While Zelensky did not reject the request outright, he insisted that an election can only take place if the West provides Kiev with strong security guarantees.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"A man casts a ballot at a polling station during Ukrainian parliamentary election in Kiev, on July 21, 2019.\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6938c12f2030276e292780e7.jpg\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/russia\/629242-zelensky-condition-elections-ukraine\/\">Zelensky responds to Trump\u2019s election criticism<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to Zelensky, the ongoing talks with US officials over a peace deal included proposals to designate parts of Donbass as a <em>\u201cfree economic zone,\u201d<\/em> adding that Moscow prefers the phrase <em>\u201cdemilitarized zone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe Americans are searching for an appropriate format,\u201d<\/em> the Ukrainian leader said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has expressed frustration over the slow progress towards a deal, suggesting that Zelensky is standing in the way.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI thought we were very close with Ukraine to having a deal. In fact, other than President Zelensky, his people loved the concept of the deal,\u201d<\/em> he said, while acknowledging that reaching an agreement is <em>\u201ca little bit complicated because you\u2019re cutting up land in a certain way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The initial US roadmap to peace leaked to the media last month reportedly called for Ukraine to relinquish the parts of Donbass it still controls, freeze the front lines in Russia\u2019s Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, stay out of NATO, and limit the size of its armed forces, in return for security guarantees.<\/p>\n<p>Moscow maintains that a sustainable peace can only be reached if Ukraine withdraws completely from the new Russian territories, and commits to neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US President Donald Trump earlier expressed frustration over the slow progress toward a peace deal with Russia Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3269"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3273,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269\/revisions\/3273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}