Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine would accept a deal that freezes the war along the current front lines. 

He called it a “real way to end this war”, and the statement came as Russia signalled it is ready to restart three-way negotiations.

Zelensky spoke in an interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday. Host, Brian Kilmeade asked whether he would accept a peace deal that freezes everything where it stands, with Ukraine keeping 75 percent or more of its country.

“Yes. Right now we have to freeze, and I think this is a real way to end this war,” Zelensky replied. “We call it ceasefire, or stop killing, as President Trump called it. Freeze and stop.” He described a freeze as the minimum Ukraine needs from Russia today.

The 75 percent figure came from the interviewer’s question and was not a number Zelensky himself put forward, a distinction that some social media posts about the interview have blurred.

Zelensky also tied the freeze to security guarantees. He said that once a ceasefire is in place, Kyiv would turn to President Donald Trump and European allies for guarantees against another attack, which he called the most important element.

Ukrainian outlets stressed that a ceasefire along the current line is not legal recognition of occupied territory as Russian. On the question of who sits at the table, he said “don’t speak about us without us, please”, after Putin floated a meeting between himself, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on peace terms.

The remarks came on the same day that US special envoy, Steve Witkoff held about three hours of talks with Russian President, Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, after meeting Zelensky in Oslo. Kremlin aide, Yuri Ushakov said afterwards that Putin had agreed in principle to resume trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States, with reports pointing to around November. Moscow also released American teacher Stephen Hubbard, who was handed to Witkoff to be sent home.

Russia, however, has not accepted a freeze. Ushakov said the proposals Witkoff brought from Ukraine and the European Union contained little of use, and that progress would require Kyiv to make “necessary decisions”.

Reactions online split between those who see the move as a realistic way to stop the killing and those who warn that freezing the lines would reward Russian aggression and set a damaging precedent for Europe.