Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday he is willing to compromise with Russia on the Donbass region — because to try to force Russian forces completely from Ukraine would lead to World War III, according to Reuters.
The stunning reported development came as Ukraine’s top military-intelligence official said he believes Russia is backing off taking the country’s capital of Kyiv to instead focus on the southern and eastern portions of the country — to try to split the nation into two.
“[Russia] will try to impose a dividing line between the unoccupied and occupied regions of our country,’’ claimed Brig. Gen. Kirill Budanov.
“This is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine,” the military chief said.
Ukrainians would launch into guerrilla warfare in response, Budanov warned.
“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.
Russia, which had expected its war on Ukraine to be quick, has yet to take a major Ukrainian city. It seems to once again be focusing on Donbass, where fighting has raged between the Ukraine government and separatists for almost a decade.
Both Zelensky’s latest comments on the area, and Russia’s reported change of strategy, could signal a possible new stage of the war, one that is more limited and where its end might be in sight.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday he is willing to compromise with Russia on the Donbass region.EPA/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT 
Russia has yet to take a major Ukrainian city, but appears to once again be focusing on Donbass.Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 
Ukraine believes Russia is trying to to impose a dividing line between the unoccupied and occupied regions of Ukraine.Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Zelensky made his comments in a video conversation with prominent independent Russian journalists Sunday, when he added that his nation is willing to adopt a neutral status as a part of a deal.
“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state — we are ready to go for it,” he said in Russian.
While details of the plan were hazy, Zelensky said any deal would be brokered by third parties and put to a referendum in Ukraine. The president also made clear such a deal would only be possible on the condition that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Zelensky said any deal would be brokered by third parties and put to a referendum in Ukraine.AP/Nariman El-Mofty 
Russia has reportedly destroyed 4,431 residential buildings, 138 healthcare facilities, eight civilian airports and 378 education institutions in Ukraine.Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 
Zelensky said, “The season of a total Ukrainian guerrilla safari will soon begin.”AP/Vadim Ghirda
He told the group of Russian reporters, who were not allowed to report on the conversation in their own country, that the destruction caused in Ukraine far exceeded the Kremlin’s wars in Chechnya.
The Ukrainian president also had harsh words for the West.
“I’ve talked to the defenders of Mariupol today. I’m in constant contact with them. Their determination, heroism and firmness are astonishing,” he said in a speech Sunday. “If only those who have been thinking for 31 days on how to hand over dozens of jets and tanks had one percent of their courage.”
Serhii, father of teenager Iliya, cries on his son’s lifeless body lying on a stretcher at a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward during the war with Russia in Mariupol, Ukraine.AP/Evgeniy Maloletka
In other news of the day:
- Russia forces struck a fuel facility near the city of Lviv being used by the Ukrainian military with high-precision long-range missiles, according to the Russian ministry. The ministry showed video of the missile strikes, which occurred just 40 miles from Ukraine’s border with Poland, where President Biden met yesterday with the country’s president and Ukrainian officials.
- The next round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine starts Tuesday in Istanbul, Turkey, a Turkish official told CNN. Previous negotiations have yielded little result, but reports say Turkish President Recep Erdogan has urged Putin to enact a ceasefire.
- The war’s toll on Ukraine’s infrastructure is now at least $63 billion, the Ukrainian Parliament said. Damaged so far are 4,431 residential buildings, 138 healthcare facilities, eight civilian airports and 378 education institutions.
- Zelensky signed a law that would send journalists to prison for three to eight years for reporting on the movements of Ukraine’s army that have not been approved or made public by the government.
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Zelensky believes Russia is no longer aggressively seeking control of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, but is instead focusing on the southern and eastern portions of the country.AP/Vadim Ghirda