Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested on Tuesday that Kyiv may have to accept temporary Russian occupation of part of its territory while Vladimir Putin remains in the Kremlin. Speaking to the Ukrainian parliament 1,000 days on from Russia’s full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy told lawmakers: "Perhaps Ukraine needs to outlive someone in Moscow to achieve its goals and restore the entire national territory." With the help of western weaponry, Ukraine has managed to stall the Russian advance in most places, but has seemingly not received enough to go on the offensive itself and recapture the approximately 18% of Ukrainian sovereign territory currently occupied by Russian forces. And with US President-elect Donald Trump making promises to end the war when he returns to the White House, speculation has mounted about the possibility of "freezing" the conflict along the current frontlines, without Kyiv legally ceding territory to Russia. "We are not waiving Ukraine’s rights to its territory," insisted Zelenskyy.
The United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom have condemned Russia’s nuclear threats as "irresponsible" after Moscow altered its nuclear doctrine in response to Ukraine’s use of long-range US-supplied ATACMS missiles. "This is more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia, which we have seen for the past two years," a spokesperson for the US National Security Council told the French AFP news agency. The spokesperson added that "we were not surprised by Russia’s announcement that it would update its nuclear doctrine" and that Moscow had been "signaling its intent" to do so for several weeks. "Observing no changes to Russia’s nuclear posture, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture or doctrine in response to Russia’s statements today," they concluded. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, also accused Moscow of being "completely irresponsible," saying: "It is not the first time that Putin has played the nuclear gamble. Russia has subscribed to the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won, and so must never be fought," he added, warning that "any call for nuclear warfare is an irresponsibility." British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also criticized "irresponsible rhetoric coming from Russia," saying the Kremlin’s threats are "not going to deter our support for Ukraine. We need to ensure that Ukraine has what is needed for as long as it’s needed to win this war."
#Russia #Ukraine
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