Ukraine peace deal: Kyiv rules out ceding land to Russia

The Ukrainian government says it will not agree a ceasefire deal with Russia that involves giving up territory.

The apparent hardening of Ukraine's position comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war could only be resolved through diplomacy.

Presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said concessions would lead to an even larger and bloodier Russian offensive.

His comments come as Russia continues attempts to encircle Ukrainian forces defending Severodonetsk in the east.

In another development, Polish President Andrzej Duda has become the first foreign leader to address the parliament in Kyiv in person.

He received a standing ovation as he declared that only Ukrainians themselves could decide their future.

He added that Poland would do everything it could to help Ukraine join the EU.

However, France's Europe Minister, Clément Beaune, said in a radio interview on Sunday that it would probably take "15 or 20 years" for Ukraine to be accepted as an EU member.

As fighting continued, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily update that Russian forces were trying to break through Ukrainian defences to reach the administrative borders of the country's easternmost Luhansk region._BBC