OREANDA-NEWS. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky answered a question about the possibility of recognizing the Russian ownership of Crimea, as well as the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, RIA Novosti reports.

We can discuss this and find a compromise on how people will live there,” the head of Ukraine said.

Earlier, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine should recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics and the belonging of Crimea to Russia.

The head of the Russian delegation at the talks with Ukraine, Vladimir Medinsky, said that Russia hopes that sooner or later it will be possible to find a solution with Ukraine on the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea.

“I would not like to comment on what the Ukrainian side says during the negotiations and after them. We agreed not to make it public. But, according to them, it is “virtually” impossible. In my opinion, there is a big difference between [completely] “impossible” and “virtually impossible”. Both issues are of paramount importance for Russia, for the Russians and, of course, for the position of our delegation. Hopefully, sooner or later we will find a solution,” he said.

According to Medinsky, on March 6, the Russian side prepared about 400 buses to evacuate Ukrainians along humanitarian corridors, but the evacuation failed due to the actions of the Ukrainian military.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided to conduct a military special operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the heads of the LPR and DPR. The decision to conduct the operation was the reason for new sanctions against Russia by the United States and its allies.