Ukraine ready to end war as Kyiv burns

Kyiv: Amid the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he was prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) membership in exchange for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine's security.

Reiterating his stance of not surrendering, Zelenskyy said, "Let's say they demand to get Kharkiv, or Mariupol, or Kyiv. People in these cities won't let them do it. The only way they can seize the cities is to kill everyone, and take the empty city."

Speaking on the NATO membership, Zelenskyy said, "NATO should either say now that they are accepting us, or openly say they are not accepting us because they are afraid of Russia -- which is true.""

And then we need to calm down and say -- ok, there are NATO member countries that can provide us security guarantees without a membership in NATO," he added.