Zelensky: No Army Limits or Neutrality in Any Peace Deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, October 25, that Ukraine will not agree to limits on the size of its army or to neutral status as part of any peace settlement. He made the remarks in an interview with the TSN-Tyzhden programme, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda.

"The main point is that we cannot talk about the neutrality of our state. And we should not; our vision, in principle, coincides with the American one, we cannot talk about limiting the Ukrainian army," Zelensky said.

Security guarantees and territory

The president added that security guarantees for Ukraine cannot be dictated by the Russian side. "So the conclusions are clear: limits on our army and Ukraine's neutrality are not up for discussion. The question of territories is a red line that can be discussed only at the level of leaders," he said.

In other words, Kyiv is separating the issues it treats as closed from the one it is willing to take up, but only at the top level: the army and neutrality are off the table, while territory can be raised solely between the heads of state.

What came before

The day before, on October 24, Zelensky said he was ready for a peace deal that would freeze the war along the current front line. At the same time, he said, Ukraine would not agree to recognise that "temporarily occupied territory has become Russian."

The diplomatic track has been moving in parallel. As we reported, Russia said it was ready to resume talks with Ukraine after November 4, and the next US-Ukraine-Russia talks may be held in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland. More coverage is in our politics section.