Ukraine, Zelensky’s admission: “We do not have the strength to retake Crimea and Donbass”

Ukraine currently does not have enough forces to retake Donbass and Crimea by military means, so it depends on diplomacy and pressure on Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with Le Parisien, broadcast by Ukrainian media. “In fact, these territories are now controlled by the Russians. We do not have the strength to win them back. We can only count on diplomatic pressure from the international community to force Putin to the negotiating table,” he said. “No leader has the right to negotiate with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin without Kiev, as Ukraine is a victim of this war,” said the Ukrainian president. According to Zelensky, negotiations with the Russian dictator under current conditions could give him the opportunity to influence decisions. Therefore, according to him, before any discussion it is necessary to develop a specific strategy: it could be an action plan or a peace initiative.

Words and reasoning on which a remote question and answer with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban takes place. “Who else in Europe has experience like Ukraine? Nobody. Orban has an army like that? No. How would he pressure Putin? With a joke, a smile? He can have it,” Zelensky told Ukrainian newspaper Pravda. “We will not respond to any provocation. There is a ceasefire proposal on the table. Take it or leave it. It’s your responsibility,” Orbán responds on X.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president re-released a chilling detail from the battlefield. Russia “literally burns” the faces of North Korean soldiers at the front “to hide the losses of these people,” Zelensky said on Telegram, speaking of “cynicism” and “contempt for everything human.” “This madness must be stopped – concluded Zelensky – stopped by a reliable and lasting peace and by Russia’s responsibility in this cynical war”.