Ukrainian president says war with Russia a worst-case possibility

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures as he speaks during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following their talks at the Mariyinsky Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine August 22, 2021. Sergey Dolzhenko/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that all-out war with neighbouring Russia was a possibility, and that he wanted to have a substantive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Asked at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) summit if there could really be all out-war with Russia, which seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and backs pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's east, Zelenskiy said: "I think there can be."