«Zelenskyy will have to hold a referendum before the «painful» agreements with the Russian Federation»: Klychko in an interview with an Italian newspaper

Vitalii Klychko at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. Photo: NikVesti

According to Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klychko, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will have to hold a referendum in the event of agreements on territorial concessions with the Russian Federation, in order to find out the opinion of the public on this matter.

He said this in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

«Zelenskyy will probably have to resort to a referendum, I don't think he will be able to reach such painful and important agreements on his own, without popular legitimation,» Vitalii Klychko said.

According to the mayor of Kyiv, the solution to the situation could be the creation of a government of national unity, as happened in Israel after the attack by Hamas on October 7. However, the mayor of Kyiv believes that the president of Ukraine is not ready to cede centralized power in his hands.

«However, I am not sure that he is ready to give up the power centralized in his hands, which guaranteed him martial law from the first day of the Russian invasion,» he said.

It should be noted that on January 26, 2021, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed the Law on the All-Ukrainian Referendum to give the people the right to independently and directly, without the participation of politicians, decide on state issues.

However, it is worth noting that, according to the law, it is forbidden to hold referendums related to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

«Issues that contradict the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, generally recognized principles and norms of international law; the issue of the cancellation or limitation of the constitutional rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen; issues aimed at eliminating the independence of Ukraine, violating the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, creating a threat to national security cannot be the subject of the All-Ukrainian referendum,» the document says.

We will remind you that recently the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that not all territories occupied by Russia can be recaptured by force, sometimes only diplomacy and international influence are needed for this.

We should also note that the survey by the Razumkov Center showed that Ukrainians are divided in their views on negotiations with Russia. Most do not agree with Putin's terms. It is noted that 44% of Ukrainians believe that the time has come to start official peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, while 35% are convinced that this is not the case.