Zelenskyy says he's open to pull back troops if Russia does too

Zelenskyy says he's open to pull back troops if Russia does too Ukraine's president says he open to pulling troops back from parts of the east if Russia also pulls back its forces.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is open to a major concession in peace talks. He says he's willing to pull troops out of a portion of Ukraine's east that is still under Ukrainian control. But it's not clear this will satisfy the Kremlin or meet with Ukrainian public approval. NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports from Kyiv.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv that he's ready to withdraw troops from the eastern region known as Donbas, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk regions, if Moscow also pulls back its troops. Russia wants all of Donbas and has been trying to occupy it for more than a decade. Ukraine only controls about a quarter of the land where the Trump administration wants to establish a free economic zone. Kyiv-based political analyst Oleksandr Kraiev says it's one way for Ukraine to avoid acknowledging the loss of land to Russian occupation while also coming to grips with another reality.

OLEKSANDR KRAIEV: And so basically creating this exclusive economic zone, or special economic zone, will help us accept the reality that, de facto, we do not control this part of Ukraine.

KAKISSIS: Zelenskyy laid out the 20 points in the latest U.S.-brokered peace plan. Zelenskyy framed the plan as the best way to end the war.

KAKISSIS: Yevdokym Serdiuk (ph), a 24-year-old military veteran, heard the news at a rehabilitation center for amputees in Kyiv. He walks on prosthetic limbs. He lost both legs while defending a city in Donetsk that's now occupied by Russia.

KAKISSIS: As he pets the center's resident Labrador, who has prosthetic limbs of his own, Serdiuk explains that he grew up in Pokrovsk, a part of Donetsk that Russia has been trying to take over for 18 months.

YEVDOKYM SERDIUK: (Non-English language spoken).

KAKISSIS: He says, even if Ukraine manages to reclaim this land, it's like scorched Earth all around, and there's no life there. The Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk is under constant attack. The soldier says a free economic zone could only work there if Russia could be trusted.

SERDIUK: (Non-English language spoken).

KAKISSIS: "But we all know Russia," he says. "It doesn't abide by agreements. If we sign this, they will take the opportunity to build up their forces even more." He says Russia first invaded Ukraine's east when he was 12. He says he grew up watching the Kremlin ignore ceasefires there.

Zelenskyy says the ball is now in the Kremlin's court. In a Christmas Eve video message, he talked about the toll Russia's war has had on Ukraine.

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).

KAKISSIS: "We are celebrating Christmas in a difficult time," he said. "Not all of us are home. Not everyone has a home, and not everyone is with us today."

Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kyiv.

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