Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that peace talks with Russia are beginning to "sound more realistic, but time is still needed" to reach a breakthrough.
In his latest Facebook video address, he said victory over Russia would require the work of all Ukrainian citizens, including the negotiating team currently holding ongoing talks via Zoom.
Russia has continued to press Ukraine to formally renounce any intention of ever joining Nato, and formally recognise the breakaway provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.
The talks are due to continue on Wednesday.
Moscow has not captured any of Ukraine's 10 biggest cities following its incursion that began on Feb. 24, the largest assault on a European state since 1945.
Ukrainian officials have raised hopes the war could end sooner than expected, possibly by May, saying Moscow may be coming to terms with its failure to impose a new government by force and running out of fresh troops.
"The meetings continue, and, I am informed, the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic. But time is still needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said in a video address on Wednesday, ahead of the next round of talks.
In a hint of a possible compromise, Zelenskiy said earlier Ukraine was prepared to accept security guarantees from the West that stop short of its long-term goal of joining NATO. Moscow sees any future Ukraine membership of the Western alliance as a threat and has demanded guarantees it will never join.
Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said there were "fundamental contradictions" during the talks, but "certainly room for compromise".
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to predict progress in the talks. "The work is difficult, and in the current situation the very fact that (the talks) are continuing is probably positive."
Russia calls its actions a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and Western allies call this a baseless pretext for a war of choice that has raised fears of wider conflict in Europe.
Source: The Free Press Journal
BDST: 1225 HRS, MAR 16, 2022
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