Ukraine's President rejects offer by President Putin to provide passports to Ukrainians

Ukraine's President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed an offer by Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide passports to Ukrainians, and pledged instead to grant citizenship to Russians who suffer under the Kremlin's rule.

The Russian president on Saturday had said that Moscow was considering plans to make it easier for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship, after it earlier moved to grant passports in the country's separatist



east.

Zelensky, a comedian who won Ukraine's presidential election last week, responded to Putin's offer by releasing a statement on Facebook today .  In his  post, Zelensky warned Russia not to talk with Ukraine in the language of threats or military or economic pressure.

He previously called for more international sanctions against Moscow in response to Russia providing citizenship to residents of Ukraine's separatist east.