'Berlin Wall is not an option' — Zelensky warns against dividing Ukrainian cities by contact line
Ukrainian towns and cities divided by a demarcation line in the event of a ceasefire would be left empty and desolate, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a briefing with journalists on March 20.
Zelensky said he discussed the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump on March 19 and warned him against leaving Ukrainian settlements split by the contact line.
"There are regions, there are cities and towns that are cut off by a contact line, and if in some places you leave this line in place, you will simply leave these cities or towns without life; no one will return to half of the city," Zelensky said, comparing such cities to divided Berlin during the Cold War.
"I told President Trump honestly: Do we want Berlin?... I think we both understood that this was not an option. The Berlin Wall is not an option."
Zelensky's comments come amid Trump's push to broker a ceasefire and, subsequently, a broader peace deal in Ukraine. The Ukrainian president acknowledged that the "issue of territories will be the most difficult."
Russia continues to occupy roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and large parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. Reports of systematic repression, torture, and forced deportations have been emerging from occupied territories.
Zelensky has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine would never recognize the occupied territories as Russian soil. At the same time, the Ukrainian leadership has acknowledged that some territories, such as Crimea, are unlikely to be liberated by military means in the near future.
The Semafor outlet reported earlier this week that the Trump administration is considering recognizing Crimea as part of a peace deal. Washington has not confirmed this claim.
Kateryna Denisova
