Meanwhile, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak reiterated that there would be no ceasefire at the price of territorial cessions. “The (Russian) armed forces must leave the country and after that the resumption of the peace process will be possible,” he told Archyde.com. A ceasefire will only lead to Russia regrouping and then attacking all the more fiercely.
Despite the defeat in the port city of Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the Ukrainian army has inflicted serious damage on Russia’s armed forces. Ukraine “broke the backbone of the Russian army,” Zelensky said in a television interview broadcast on Saturday. “They won’t be able to get back on their feet for the next few years,” said the 44-year-old.
Shortly before, the last more than 2,400 Ukrainian defenders of the port city in the south-east of the country had surrendered and been taken prisoner by the Russians. Zelensky emphasized that Kyiv will take everything back. A return to the front lines before February 24 – the day Russia’s war of aggression began – will already count as a victory. “It will mean that they didn’t conquer us and we defended our country,” said the head of state. But getting there will be very difficult. In the end there is diplomacy.
More sanctions
Zelensky insists on expanding sanctions against Russia. After a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, he underlined the need to lift the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. In a tweet, he thanked Draghi for unconditionally supporting the desire to become a member of the European Union.
According to Zelenskyj, the war in Ukraine can ultimately only be ended through diplomacy. The war will be “bloody, there will be fierce fighting, but it will only end definitively through diplomacy,” the head of state told Ukrainian television station ICTV on Saturday. “There are things that we can only achieve at the negotiating table.” The results of the negotiations must be “just” for Ukraine.