Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has told the BBC that Ukraine may have to give up land as part of a peace deal with Russia, amid growing pressure from US President Donald Trump for Ukraine to accept territorial concessions.
"One of the scenarios is... that we give up the territory. It's not fair. But for peace, temporary peace, maybe it can be a solution, temporary," Klitschko said.
However, the 53-year-old former boxing champion turned politician stressed that the Ukrainian people "will never accept occupation" by Russia.
He spoke hours after a Russian missile and drone attack on Kiev killed 12 people and injured more than 80.
It was one of the deadliest Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital in recent months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's programme today from his office in central Kiev, Klitschko stressed that he was "responsible for the capital of Ukraine", describing it as the "heart" of the war-torn country.
He said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could be forced to take a "painful decision" to achieve peace.
The mayor of Kiev is now one of the most senior Ukrainian politicians to publicly indicate that his country may have to give up territory, albeit temporarily, according to the BBC.
When asked if Zelensky had discussed the details of a possible deal with him, Klitschko bluntly replied: "No."
"President Zelensky is doing it alone. It's not my function," he added.
Klitschko and Zelensky are political opponents. The mayor of Kiev has repeatedly accused the president and his team of trying to undermine his authority.
Referring to the standoff between Zelensky and Trump at the White House in February, Klitschko suggested that key issues between top politicians would be better discussed "without video cameras."
Earlier this week, Trump accused Zelensky of harming peace talks after the Ukrainian leader again rejected recognition of Russian control over Crimea, the southern Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
Trump said that Crimea was "lost many years ago" and is currently "not even a topic for discussion."
But Zelensky pointed to the 2018 "Crimea Declaration" by Trump's former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which said the US "rejects Russia's attempted annexation."
Ukraine and its European allies have expressed concern in recent weeks about what many on the continent see as Trump's warming of relations with Vladimir Putin's Russia.
DON'T MISS IT
Bonus video:
