Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that his country does not have the strength to push back Russia to borders of 1991.
“We understand that we do not yet have the strength to push (Russian President Vladimir) Putin back to the line of 1991 with weapons in hand,” Zelenskyy said told Fox News.
Asked if he was willing to cede land to Russia as part of a potential peace deal, Zelenskyy said Kyiv cannot legally acknowledge Ukrainian territories under Moscow’s control.
Regarding his willingness to give up Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, in pursuit of a peace deal, he said Kyiv is ready to bring the peninsula under Ukranian control through diplomatic means.
“We cannot spend dozens of thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back,” he said. “We understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically.”
The Ukrainian president described the initial days of the conflict with Russia as the most difficult period, arguing that progress for Kyiv is dependent on maintaining unity.
“I think that was the most difficult period, but now this period, this moment depends, I think, on our unity in Ukraine, and I think that what is very dangerous is if we lose unity in Europe and, what is most important, unity between Ukraine and the United States,” he said.
Zelenskyy went on to say that the end of the conflict depends on “a lot” on Putin but it is much more dependent on the U.S. because “Putin is weaker.”
He said he believes U.S. President-elect Donald Trump can convince Putin to end the war and he thinks Ukraine will lose if the U.S. halts military aid to Kyiv.
“We have production, but it’s not enough to prevail. And I think it is not enough to survive. But it will be, if such choice will be the American choice, so we will decide what we’ll have to do,” he added.