In an interview with BBC, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he is not willing to give up even a single territory of his country as part of any peace deal with Russia.
Zelensky said that conceding territory would mean Moscow could “keep coming back”, and added that Western weapons are likely to bring peace closer. He further said that the predicted spring offensive had already started, while speaking to the BBC, in the wake of one year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Russian attacks are already happening from several directions,” he added. However, he expressed belief in the Ukrainian forces’ capabilities to keep resisting the advances of Russia till a counter-offensive is launched by them.
“Of course, modern weapons speed up peace. Weapons are the only language Russia understands,” Zelensky said while speaking to the BBC.
Although it is not clear when Zelensky spoke with BBC, he also talked about Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko’s chances to wage war alongside the troops of Russia if the border is crossed by a single Ukrainian soldier.
“I hope (Belarus) won’t join (the war). If it does, we will fight and we will survive,” Zelensky said. He added that it will be a “huge mistake” to permit Russia to use Belarus as a staging post for launching an attack again.
On Thursday, when Lukashenko was asked about allowing his country to be used as a staging ground for invasion by Russia’s invasion, he had said, “Yes, I’m ready. I’m ready to provide (territory) again. I’m also ready to wage war, alongside the Russians, from the territory of Belarus. But only if someone – even a single soldier – enters our territory from there (Ukraine) with weapons to kill my people.”
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Talking about the tactics of Russia in the war in the BBC interview, Zelensky called them “valueless”. “The way they destroyed everything. If their soldiers received [and carried out] those orders, that means they share those same values,” he said.
“Today, our survival is our unity. I believe Ukraine is fighting for its survival. We chose this path. We want security guarantees. Any territorial compromises would make us weaker as a state. It’s not about compromise itself. Why would we be afraid of that? We have millions of compromises in life every day. The question is with whom? With Putin? No. Because there’s no trust. Dialogue with him? No. Because there’s no trust,” Zelensky said, while speaking to the BBC.
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