Zelensky: "The mistake is not diplomacy. The mistake is diplomacy with Putin"
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is emotionally ready for a long war and believes that now is a "bad moment" for negotiations with the aggressor country, Rubryka reports, citing the leader's interview with The Economist.
"I have to be ready; my team has to be ready for the long war, and emotionally, I am ready," the president said following the YES conference in Kyiv.
According to Zelensky, some partners may take Ukraine's recent difficulties on the battlefield as an excuse to force it to negotiate with Russia, but "this is a bad moment since Putin sees the same." He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to exhaust Ukraine, but Russia is fragile.
"[Putin] does not understand that in the long war, he will lose. Because it does not matter that 60% or 70% [of Russians] support him, no, his economy will lose," Zelensky said.
At the same time, the president said he is well aware of the risks for his country if the West stops its economic support. With some of its Western allies, including the United States, holding elections next year, Zelensky knows that maintaining support will be difficult, especially in the absence of significant progress on the front, the publication said.
Zelensky highlighted that if Putin hopes that Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential elections in 2024 will bring him victory, he is mistaken because Trump will "never" support Putin.
"Strong Americans don't do that," Zelensky believes.
He also expects that Joe Biden will continue the course in support of Ukraine if he is re-elected. "Do they want Afghanistan, part two?" asks the Ukrainian president.
Zelensky noted that victory in the war would not come "tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," but this is not some outlandish dream.
The Ukrainian president also rejects the idea of a compromise with Putin. The war will continue "as long as Russia remains on Ukrainian territory," he says. Zelensky is confident that the agreement reached through negotiations will not be permanent.
Those who choose to talk to a man in the Kremlin are "deluding themselves," he said, just like Western leaders who signed the pact with Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1938 only to watch him invade Czechoslovakia.
Curtailing aid to Ukraine by allies will only prolong the war, Zelensky argues. This will create risks for the West in its own backyard. The president believes there is no way of predicting how the millions of Ukrainian refugees in European countries would react to their country being abandoned. Ukrainians have generally "behaved well" and are "very grateful" to those who sheltered them. They will not forget that generosity. But it would not be a "good story" for Europe if it were to "drive these people into a corner."
Meanwhile, the publication reports that a prolonged war of attrition would mean a crossroads for Ukraine, which could lose even more people, both on the front line and in emigration. According to Zelensky, this will require a "totally militarized economy."
The president said that the government will have to put this prospect before its citizens. The new social contract cannot be one person's decision. Almost 19 months into the war, the president says he is "morally" ready for change. But he will discuss this idea with his people only when weakness among his Western supporters becomes a "trend." To the question of whether this moment has come, Zelensky answered:
"No, not yet, thank God."
Rubryka reported that during the panel discussion at the 18th meeting of the Yalta European Strategy, "Future is Decided in Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelensky said that today, the counteroffensive is proceeding faster than the world is imposing sanctions against the aggressor country.
