ukraine plans to keep seized russian territory indefinitely
2024-09-04
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according to a report by the national broadcasting corporation (nbc) on september 3, ukrainian president zelensky said in an interview with the media that day:kiev is planning to hold on to the russian territory it has seized indefinitely in an attempt to force russia to the negotiating table.
zelensky's interview with nbc
according to reports, this is the first one-on-one interview zelensky has given since the ukrainian army carried out a high-risk cross-border operation. he said that ukraine will "hold" the territory it has captured because it is part of ukraine's "victory plan" to end the war. regarding the russian territory currently occupied by ukraine, zelensky said, "now, we need it."
on the other hand, zelensky said he could not discuss whether ukraine planned to seize more russian territory. "with all due respect, i cannot talk about this. i think success is very close to a surprise," he said.
zelensky also reportedly told nbc that the biden administration had no prior knowledge of the ukrainian military's plan to launch a cross-border attack on russia, and that it was a secret even in ukraine. "we didn't inform anyone, and it wasn't a question of lack of trust," he said. zelensky said that even ukrainian intelligence services didn't know about the operation, "i minimized the scope of people who knew about it, and i think that's one of the reasons why it was successful." according to reports, zelensky believes that the ukrainian counteroffensive last summer failed in many ways because there was too much publicity and discussion about the counteroffensive, which gave the russian side an opportunity to prepare.
in a video speech on the evening of august 10, local time, zelensky admitted for the first time that the ukrainian army was launching an attack on the russian border area. at present, the fighting between russia and ukraine in the kursk region is still ongoing. according to a previous report by ria novosti, major general alaudinov, deputy director of the military and political directorate of the russian ministry of defense, said on august 21 that some ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the kursk oblast of russia and might be redeployed in other directions. he said: "the enemy was blocked and suffered heavy losses. in fact, some troops are withdrawing. as far as i know, the purpose is to transfer them to other directions." according to reuters, cohen, deputy director of the us central intelligence agency, said on august 28 that russia is expected to launch a counterattack to retake the territory of kursk oblast occupied by the ukrainian army.
original title: "us media: zelensky accepted an exclusive interview for the first time after the ukrainian army's cross-border attack, saying that ukraine plans to keep the captured russian territory indefinitely"
