Legally, we cannot give away our lands. This is prohibited by the Constitution. But let’s not talk big. Russia actually controls part of our territory today, Zelensky said
Ukraine does not currently have the military power to retake all the territory Russia has placed under its control since 2014, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told French newspaper Le Parisien.
Zelensky, however, clarified that this does not mean that Kiev will recognize its territories controlled by Moscow as Russian.
“Legally, we cannot give away our lands. This is prohibited by the Constitution. But let’s not talk big. Russia actually controls part of our territory today,” Zelensky said in response to a question about how willing Kiev is to compromise to end the war after Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion.
“Although today we do not have the strength to win back all of our territory, perhaps the West will find the strength to put Putin in his place … at the negotiating table and resolve this war diplomatically,” he added, while reiterating that Ukraine would he would be in a different situation today if the West had earlier given Kiev everything it had asked for.
On the other hand, Zelensky said, Ukraine will never recognize its occupied territories as Russian. “This is not a compromise. This would mean that Putin could once again get away with everything he has done. This is impossible.”
Russia currently holds about 18 percent of Ukraine’s 111,677 square kilometer territory, including Crimea and parts of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine that the Kremlin has seized since 2014, according to Ukraine monitoring program DeepState.
As of 2022, Ukraine has liberated 42,000 square kilometers of occupied land, but less in 2023. During this year’s summer offensive, Russian troops quickly advanced into the Donetsk region, returned to Kharkiv and launched attacks in Kherson and Zaporizhia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally declared four regions in Ukraine (Zaporizia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson) Russian after fake referendums in 2022, even though Kremlin troops do not fully control the regions today.
Putin has also warned Kiev that it must withdraw from all four regions if it wants to start talks to end the war.
Source :Skai
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