The coalition aiding Ukraine’s fight against Moscow’s invasion would not support Kyiv if it were to move the hostilities to Russian territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.
“I believe that this is a big risk, we will definitely be left alone,” he said in an interview with national media, where he was asked if it was time for such a move to Russian soil.
Zelensky said Ukraine’s fight to reclaim its own territory has been critically aided by its relationships with allies.
The progress and responsibility for Ukraine on the battlefield “is always bilateral,” Zelensky said, adding that international partners are a part of any victory, any hold-up in the counteroffensive, any defensive actions and any weakness.
Zelensky also said he believes it is possible to “push for the demilitarization of Russia” in Crimea by political means.
Some context: The past several months have seen a rise in strikes on Russian soil, with Russian officials saying Ukrainian drones and shelling are responsible for attacks that have at times wounded or killed civilians.
Officials in Kyiv have alluded to the incidents — Zelensky said after drone attacks last month, for example, that the war is “returning to Russia” — but Ukraine often declines to take explicit credit for attacks across the border.
Ukraine has, by contrast, taken credit for attacks by sea drones and other weaponry on Russian-held Crimea and surrounding Black Sea targets, promising there will be more to come.
Moscow seized the peninsula and declared it annexed Russian territory in 2014, in a move denounced as illegal by Ukraine, the US and international bodies. Kyiv has said its goal of driving Russia out of Ukraine includes reclaiming Crimea.
