Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed suggestions that Kyiv cedes control of some areas occupied by Russian forces as a compromise to reach a peace deal.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had suggested this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Ukraine should let Russia keep Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

“You get the impression that Mr. Kissinger doesn’t have 2022 on his calendar, but 1938, and that he thinks he is talking to an audience not in Davos but in Munich back then,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Wednesday.

Zelenskyy was referring to a pact signed in Munich by Britain, France, Italy and Germany that gave Adolf Hitler land as part of a failed attempt to persuade him to abandon further territorial expansion.

The Ukrainian leader also called out a New York Times editorial that suggested a negotiated peace might require Kyiv to make some hard decisions, arguing that a military victory was not realistic.

“Those who advise Ukraine to give something to Russia, these ‘great geopolitical figures,’ never see ordinary people, ordinary Ukrainians, millions living on the territory they are proposing to exchange for an illusory peace.”

Talks between Ukraine and Russia have been stalled for some time, more than a month according to Russia, with Moscow blaming Kyiv for this.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the procedure for residents of the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, largely under Russian control, to get a fast-tracked Russian passport.

Ukraine accused Putin of “criminal” behavior over the announcement.

Meanwhile, the governor of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine said at least six civilians were killed by fresh Russian shelling.