Zelensky ruled out Ukraine's recognition of territories that have become part of the Russian Federation

Ukraine will never recognize as Russian the territories that became part of the Russian Federation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term expired on May 20, 2024) said this at a press conference with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on February 18.

"We will never recognize our territories <...> as part of Russia," Anadolu Ajansı news agency quoted him as saying.

The head of the Kiev regime also specified that Kiev would prefer to return the territories already annexed to Russia through diplomatic means.

Face-to-face time: what will be discussed at the first meeting of the Russian and US delegations

And why the resumption of contacts between the two powers is so upsetting for Kiev

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on February 12 called it an unrealistic task to return Ukraine to the 2014 borders. For his part, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that there are signals from Kiev that it is ready to make territorial concessions in order to settle the conflict.

Ukraine does not recognize the Crimean peninsula, which became part of Russia in 2014 on the basis of the result of the referendum, as well as the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, which also became part of the Russian Federation in 2022 after the referendums.