Ukraine prepared to ‘compromise’ on Nato in exchange for Russian ceasefire

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek Nato membership in exchange for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine’s security.

“It’s a compromise for everyone: for the West, which doesn’t know what to do with us with regard to Nato, for Ukraine, which wants security guarantees, and for Russia, which doesn’t want further Nato expansion,” Mr Zelensky said late on Monday in an interview with Ukrainian television channels.

He also repeated his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Unless he meets with Mr Putin, it is impossible to understand whether Russia even wants to stop the war, Mr Zelensky said.

Mr Zelensky said that Kyiv will be ready to discuss the status of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region held by Russian-backed separatists after a cease-fire and steps toward providing security guarantees.

As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 27th day, the conflict is showing no signs of abating. The invasion has wreaked devastation, exacting a heavy toll on civilians.

The UN says nearly 3.4 million people have fled Ukraine.

On Monday the Ukrainian army said it had forced Russian troops out of Makariv, a strategically important Kyiv suburb, after a fierce battle. That prevents Russian forces from encircling the capital from the northwest, the Defence Ministry said.

Russian forces shelled along a humanitarian corridor on Monday, wounding four children who were among the civilians being evacuated, Mr Zelensky said in his night time video address to the nation.

He said the shelling took place in the Zaporizhzhia region, the initial destination of those fleeing Mariupol.

The Ukrainian government said that about 3,000 people from Mariupol were evacuated on Monday.

Mr Zelensky said he spoke with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and French President Emmanual Macron to coordinate their positions before Western leaders meet on Thursday.

“Our position will be expressed and will be expressed strongly, believe me,” Mr Zelensky added.

Elsewhere, the battle for Ukraine’s strategic port of Mariupol continues to rage on. On Monday Ukraine rejected a Russian offer to evacuate its troops from the besieged city. Russian bombardment continued to hit it and other cities in Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky said about 400 civilians were taking shelter at an art school in the Sea of Azov port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb.

The key port city has seen some of the heaviest fighting since the Russian invasion. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are fighting block-by-block for control of the city where at least 2,300 people have died, some buried in mass graves.

Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian patrol boat and electronic warfare complex, the Defence Ministry said.

Ukrainian officials rejected a Russian offer that its troops be granted safe passage out of the encircled city, which would hand Mariupol over to Russia, uniting Russian forces in southern and eastern Ukraine along the Sea of Azov.

It was not clear how many casualties there were in the Russian bombing of the art school, Mr Zelensky said in a video address early on Monday.

That attack came just days after a bomb hit a theatre on Wednesday in Mariupol where more than 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering. It was unclear how many people were killed in that attack.

“Almost 90% (of the city) has been destroyed,” Mariupol resident Maria Fiodorova, 77, said on Monday as she crossed the border into Medyka, Poland. “There are no buildings there anymore.”

The Ukrainian government said that about 3,000 people from Mariupol were evacuated on Monday.

In an earlier video address, Mr Zelensky hailed protesters in the occupied city of Kherson for courage in confronting Russian troops who used stun grenades and fired in the air to break up a demonstration.

Mr Zelensky said that the war has turned ordinary Ukrainians into heroes and “the enemy doesn’t believe it’s all real.”

Mr Zelensky said in his night time video address to the nation that Russian forces shelled along a humanitarian corridor on Monday, wounding four children who were among the civilians being evacuated.

He said the shelling took place in the Zaporizhzhia region, the initial destination of those fleeing Mariupol.

Meanwhile, the Russian military says it will keep using state-of-the-art hypersonic Kinzhal missiles to hit particularly important targets in Ukraine.

Russian shelling on Sunday near the city centre of the capital, Kyiv, killed eight people, according to emergency officials.

The attack damaged a nearby high-rise building and devastated a shopping centre, which Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said had been targeted because it was used to store rockets. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general said a Russian shell struck a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy, causing a leak in a 50-ton tank of ammonia that took hours to contain.

Russia’s defence spokesperson also said an overnight cruise missile hit a Ukrainian military training centre in the Rivne region, killing 80 foreign and Ukrainian troops.

Ukraine’s nuclear regulatory agency said on Monday the radiation monitors around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant — site of the world’s worst meltdown in 1986 — have stopped working.