Ukraine's Zelenskyy says ready for talks with Putin

KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Ukraine was applying for fast track membership of the NATO military alliance, and that Kyiv was ready for talks with Moscow, but not with President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian leader made a statement in a video that appeared to be a forceful rebuttal to the Kremlin after Putin held a ceremony in Moscow to declare four partially occupied Ukrainian regions as annexed Russian land.

In a video on Telegram, Zelenskyy said we are taking a decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO.

The video showed Zelenskyy announcing the decision and signing a document flanked by his prime minister and speaker of parliament.

Ukraine is ready for negotiations, but with a different Russian president, Zelenskyy said.

Putin earlier signed treaties to annex the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which are partly occupied by his forces.