Zelenskyy reaffirms his refusal to cede land to Russia as he rallies European support
apnews.com
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffirmed his refusal to cede territory, resisting U.S. pressure for compromise with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffimed his firm refusal to cede any territory, resisting U.S. pressure for a painful compromise with Russia as he continued to rally European support for Ukraine.

“Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give up anything. That’s what we are fighting for,” Zelenskyy said in a WhatsApp chat late Monday in which he answered reporters’ questions.

“Do we consider ceding any territories? According to the law we don’t have such right. According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we don’t have a moral right either.”

  • jumjummy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    122·
    13 hours ago

    Don’t look at the front lines. Look at the Russian economy. It’s more likely that the Russian economy collapses or Putin is overthrown due to some internal power struggles or uprising than it is for Ukraine to militarily defeat Russia.

    That is as long as the West continues to support Ukraine with the bare minimum to bleed both sides continuously.

    • shawn1122@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      52·
      11 hours ago

      This is an underestimation of Russia’s economic realignment from West to East. Primarily with China and to a lesser extent India. It’s hubris to assume that Russia has to have a robust economic relationship with the West to remain solvent.

      • deHaga@feddit.ukEnglish
        31·
        9 hours ago

        They are China’s bitch now. Not sure that’s a realignment.

        • shawn1122@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          21·
          8 hours ago

          Financially it’s a lucrative one and makes them more resilient to Western sanctions. China is on a trajectory to surpass the US economy in 10 years. Wealth, power and influence are gradually drifting East and South so it’s important for Western leaders to adapt now instead of disregarding reality and becoming more entrenched. Being forced to align economically with China will likely be to Russia’s long term benefit.

          The West (particularly US) is currently doubling down on AGI and fossil fuels (US and Canada). The AGI bet can definitely blow up in its face in the short term. Emerging markets are already pivoting hard to renewables so fossil fuels may not be as good a long term bet as they’re hoping. The EU is a stagnant market and the UK is still limping after shooting itself in the foot with Brexit. Many of these countries are now tied up by infighting over immigration, impacting their ability to project power.

          The only absolute advantage is the massive defense spending but even the majority of that is by the US so if they decide to leave the rest of the West to fend for themselves then all bets are off.

    • nednobbins@lemmy.zipEnglish
      34·
      12 hours ago

      How would you look at the Russian economy?

      The best measure I can think of is GDP growth. It can be hard to estimate but it shows the change in an economy over time. The most accurate data I know of for that is the World Bank.

      https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2024&locations=US-RU-CN-JP-IN-GB-FR-DE-IT-CA&start=2019

      You’ll notice that for most of that period, which includes the entire Ukraine war, Russia’s economy has been solidly on par with the other 9 largest economies in the world. They still have active trading relations with most of the world https://www.volza.com/global-trade-data/russia-export-trade-data/russia-export-trading-partners/

      At the current rates, Ukraine will bleed out before Russia does.

      • deHaga@feddit.ukEnglish
        3·
        9 hours ago

        Increased spending on war machines increases GDP. It’s not good for the country though. The opportunity cost is huge

        • nednobbins@lemmy.zipEnglish
          21·
          8 hours ago

          Do you have a better measure of the economy?

          Both Russia and Ukraine are destroying each other’s infrastructure do you have some data that shows Russia is suffering more from it than Ukraine is?

      • shawn1122@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        41·
        9 hours ago

        Western propaganda machine constantly pumps out information on Russia’s economy being on the verge of collapse. I recall buying into it years ago and, well, we’re still waiting.

        I think it’s a bit of old world thinking at work. In the post WW2 period the West controlled the vast majority of global capital so being blocked out of trade by us meant guaranteed economic despair (if you weren’t big enough). The world is very different today but many Westerners (even in leadership) still perceive the world as if we’re still in that era.