KYIV. Oct 4 (Interfax) - The new law on a special status of Donbas, which will be enacted upon the end of the effect of the current law in late 2019, will take "red lines" and public opinion in Ukraine into consideration, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Will the new law on special status be signed there [at the meeting in the Normandy format]? No. This law is in effect until December 31, 2019. There will be a new law. Will we ourselves work it out and approve it swiftly? No. We will write it together, in cooperation and public discussion with the whole of Ukrainian society, crossing not a single red line," Zelensky said in a video address aired on Ukrainian TV channels on Thursday evening.
There will be "no capitulation, no surrender of national interests," he said. "There will be no prearrangements or global steps without an agreement reached with the Ukrainian people, only the return of people and our territories, and the return of prisoners and restoring of peace," Zelensky said.
Ukraine has "a long and complicated path" ahead toward resolving this problem, the president said. "And we should walk it together. And in this we need unity," he said.