Kyiv will never recognize Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories and will not agree to NATO membership of only a part of the territory.

Axar.az reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this at a joint press conference with EU Council President Antonio Costa in Kyiv.

"We will never legally recognize the occupation of our lands by Russia. These are purely our lands. The people there are our citizens. The temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine will, of course, return. I would very much like it to return diplomatically so that there are no losses. I am sure that Putin understands this. I'm not. But I want the majority of the civilized world to understand this," he said.

The President stressed that the best security guarantee for Ukraine is NATO, and the EU is the economic guarantee:

"These are two requirements, regardless of what diplomatic ways there are to end the war, the EU and NATO are the main factors for us."

It should be noted that in an interview with "Sky News" Zelensky announced that he is ready for a ceasefire even without the return of the occupied lands and that he can accept NATO protection.