Ukraine lacks strength to recover Russian-occupied land, Zelensky says

President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that Ukraine ‘does not have the strength to recover’ territory taken by Russian forces and that only diplomatic pressure on Moscow could now bring an end to the conflict. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and controls roughly 80 percent of Donbas, a region that includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It also exerts some control in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Combined with Crimea, Moscow has laid claim to all five regions, with the most intense fighting against Ukrainian troops occurring at points across the territories. Zelensky told French newspaper Le Parisien that despite Ukraine claiming the land, these areas are now controlled by the Russians ‘de facto’. ‘We do not have the strength to recover them,’ he conceded.

The Ukrainian president issued a decree in 2022 barring his country from holding peace talks with Moscow, but it appears his stance is gradually changing. When asked if Ukraine might get around the negotiating table with Russia, he did not rule out that possibility, but said diplomatic pressure from other nations was essential in making it happen. ‘It’s not about who sits across from you, it’s about the position you’re in when negotiating.

‘I don’t believe we’re in a weak position, but we’re also not in a strong one.’ On Monday, the Russian president said his troops had the upper hand across the entire front line in Ukraine and were accelerating their advance. ‘Russian troops are firmly holding the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact,’ Putin told his military generals in a televised meeting.

He said Russia’s seizure of 189 Ukrainian settlements this year made 2024 a ‘landmark year in the achievement of the goals of the special military operation,’ using Moscow’s official language for its campaign. Speaking after Putin at the same meeting, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said Russia’s troops had seized almost 4,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory this year and were now gaining around 30 square kilometers a day. Amid Russian advances, Putin also accused the West of pushing Russia to its ‘red lines’ and made chilling threats to lift restrictions on Russian missile deployment.

The tyrant president told a meeting of defense officials that Moscow was watching the potential deployment of short and medium-range missiles with concern. He said Russia would lift all of its own voluntary restrictions on the deployment of its own missiles if the US went ahead and deployed such missiles. Putin, who said Russian forces in Ukraine has taken control of 189 settlements so far this year, said Russia’s nuclear weapons were there for deterrence.

Last month, Putin decided to hit war-torn Ukraine with a never-before-seen hypersonic, nuclear-capable missile, called Oreshnik.The Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) triggered a series of explosions in the city of Dnipro, with the attack coming less than 24 hours after Ukraine reportedly struck targets in Russia’s Kursk region with British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. Pieces of the nuclear-capable weapon were found scorched and shredded on the ground in a hangar at a facility that conducts weapons forensics in the Ukrainian city. 

Ukraine said the weapon reached a top speed of more than 8,000mph as it headed towards Dnipro on November 21. US President-elect Donald Trump slammed President Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to deploy Western long-range missiles that can hit targets within Russia as ‘foolish’. He has vowed to end the war within a day of taking office next month.

Under a plan co-authored by Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Russia and Ukraine envoy, Ukraine would continue to have US military assistance but would have to engage with Russia in peace talks or face potential cuts. For Russia, the plan suggests that the front line would be frozen, Ukraine’s application for Nato membership would be suspended and there would be a partial lifting of sanctions. Putin has said Ukraine needs to agree to surrender Crimea and the four regions now claimed by Russia. Speculation around a potential peace agreement comes as North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces suffered ‘several hundred’ casualties in the Kursk border region, a senior US military official said on Tuesday.

The official did not provide details on exactly how many have been killed, but said the North Korean forces do not appear to be battle-hardened, which contributes to the number of casualties they have had. The official was providing the first significant estimate of North Korean casualties, which comes several weeks after Ukraine announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost three-year war. The White House and Pentagon have confirmed that North Korean forces have been battling on the front lines in largely infantry positions. They have been fighting with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.

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