Об этом глава государства сказал в интервью BBC, опубликованном в понедельник, 23 февраля, информирует портал PromPolitInform.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has already started World War III and can only be stopped by intense economic and military pressure.
The head of state said this in an interview with the BBC, published on Monday, February 23, informs the portal PromPolitInform.
“I think Putin has already started it [World War III]. The question is how much territory he will be able to capture and how to stop him… Russia wants to impose a different way of life on the world and change the life that people have chosen for themselves,” the Ukrainian president said.
According to Zelensky, Putin does not want to stop the war, but “this does not mean that he will not do it.”
Answering the question of whether to prepare for an even longer war, the president noted: “You play chess with many leaders, and not with Russia. There is no one right way. You have to choose many parallel steps, parallel directions. And one of these parallel paths, in my opinion, will bring success. For us, success is to stop Putin.”
The President rejected the idea of withdrawing the Defense Forces of Ukraine from the Donbass, as required by Russia, and stressed that constructive on territorial issues has not yet been found. At the same time, he noted his readiness to talk about compromises with the United States amid pressure from the administration of Donald Trump.
In a conversation with the BBC, Zelensky stressed that the liberation of all Ukrainian lands is only a “matter of time.”
“To do this today would mean losing a huge number of people – millions of people – because the [Russian] army is large, and we understand the cost of such steps. If you don’t have enough people, you lose them. What is a land without humans? Honestly, nothing,” he explained.
The President also noted that Ukraine lacks weapons, and this depends not only on Kyiv, but also on partners.
“So it is impossible at the moment, but the return to the borders of 1991 is undoubtedly not only a victory, but also justice. The victory of Ukraine is the preservation of our independence, and the victory of justice for the whole world is the return of all our lands,” he said.
Zelensky said that the victory of Ukraine would mean the restoration of normal life and the cessation of killings. At the same time, the broader vision of victory concerns the global threat from Putin.
“I believe that stopping Putin today and preventing him from occupying Ukraine is a victory for the whole world. Because Putin will not stop in Ukraine,” the head of state added.
The president also warned that even if Russia is temporarily satisfied with the pause, it will use it to recuperate.
“Probably, this [withdrawal of troops from the held territories of the Donetsk region] would satisfy him for a certain time… he needs a pause… but once it recovers, our European partners say it could take three to five years. I think he can recover in no more than a couple of years. Where will he go next? We don’t know, but the fact that he wants to continue [the war] is a fact,” Zelensky concluded.
Earlier, the head of state repeatedly emphasized that Ukraine’s position on territorial issues is unchanged – Kyiv will not agree to give Donetsk and Lugansk regions to Russia. The Kremlin instead insists on the so-called Anchorage formula, which provides for the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Defense Forces from the Donbass and the freezing of the current front lines in other regions in the east and south of Ukraine.
Recall, on February 18 in Geneva, Switzerland, the next round of trilateral negotiations between Ukraine, the United States and Russia ended. The President said that the negotiations were difficult, and progress was observed only in military matters. In particular, the parties resolved the issue of monitoring the ceasefire with the participation of the United States.
According to Axios, the negotiations “stalled” because of the position of the Russian side. At the same time, US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said that the meetings “led to significant progress.”
Zelensky said that within the next 10 days there should be another meeting of the negotiating groups – probably again in Geneva.
Photo – OP
