Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference devoted to his two years in office in Kiev, Ukraine, May 20, 2021. Zelensky believes a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin would help to put an end to the seven-year-conflict in Donbass, the Ukrainian president's press service reported on Thursday.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he expects no conflict with Russia.

"We believe that there will be no large-scale war against Ukraine, and there won't be a wide escalation from the side of the Russian Federation," Zelensky said, adding that Kiev stands ready to impose a martial law if there is aggression against Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, Zelensky said that he was weighing a request from the foreign ministry to sever diplomatic ties with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed two decrees recognizing "the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR)" and "the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)" as independent and sovereign states.

At a ceremony held in the Kremlin, Putin also inked the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between Russia and the LPR and the DPR respectively with the heads of the two "republics," a Kremlin statement said.