A national referendum should be held to decide whether foreigners or foreign-controlled companies will be allowed to buy Ukrainian farmland,

A national referendum should be held to decide whether foreigners or foreign-controlled companies will be allowed to buy Ukrainian farmland, President Zelenskiy said Monday in a four-minute videotape address posted on Facebook. Saying the government has inserted this new step in its draft farmland market bill, he said: “Foreigners and companies in which there are foreigners among the founders will receive the right to buy Ukrainian lands, Ukrainian land plots only if the consent of the people of Ukraine is given in an all-Ukrainian referendum.” There about 1,000 foreign-owned farming companies in Ukraine, largely cultivating leased land.