Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview published Monday by The Economist magazine that the idea that Russia had won the war was only a “fantasy” and that in reality Moscow was still suffering heavy losses on the battlefield. Seeking Western resources and support, he indicated that the center of gravity of the war must now shift to the Crimea and the Black Sea. Zelensky also said there was no real sign that Russia was interested in peace, and that any sign that Moscow wanted to negotiate meant it had run out of weapons and soldiers.

The President of Ukraine also believes that strikes against Russian troops in Crimea are necessary to reduce attacks on Ukraine, as well as to protect cities in the east of the country.

Also published in the autumn in The Economist was an interview with Valery Zaluzhny, the chief of the Ukrainian General Staff, in which he assessed that the war had reached a stalemate after almost two years and a Ukrainian counter-offensive without noticeable success, which led to Zelensky’s stalemate . dissatisfaction, who publicly expressed his disagreement with the commander of the Ukrainian army. Since then, according to Ukrainian media, the enmity between them has become more and more obvious, but in polls, Zaluzhnya’s popularity exceeds that of Zelensky.

Zelensky is angry

• Volodymyr Zelenskyi is angry. Not because of the enemy’s successes (he doesn’t see them) and not even because of his own army’s lack of progress on the battlefield.
• Instead, the president of Ukraine is outraged by the hesitation of some of his allies, as well as the aloofness of some compatriots.
• Hardened by the pressure of war, a year of negative headlines and the failure of the counteroffensive that promised so much at the beginning of 2023, he has lost the lightness and humor that characterized our previous meetings with him,” writes The Economist in the preamble of the quoted News.ro article.

The interview was conducted via Zoom, and the correspondent of The Economist noted that the Ukrainian president was gesticulating to be convincing, “as if trying to break through a computer screen.”

“The world no longer listens to him (Zelensky – no) so attentively, and the master of communication no longer controls the narrative, as it was two years ago.

Tiredness is coming to Ukraine. In the West, headlines are asking whether Russian President Vladimir Putin has started to win.

Aid to Ukrainians has become a subject of political bargaining in America and Europe,” The Economist explains the context in which he conducted this interview.

The West has lost its sense of urgency, and many Ukrainians have lost their sense of existential threat, says Zelensky, who is now trying to restore both.

“Maybe we didn’t succeed (in 2023) as the world wanted. Maybe not everything is as fast as someone imagined,” he admits. But the idea that Putin is winning is nothing more than “imagination.” The reality, he said, is that Russian forces are still being massacred in places like Avdiivka, which Zelensky just visited last week.

The loss of half a million people in the ranks of the Russians by 2025

British defense intelligence sources have estimated that, based on current trends, Russia will suffer more than 500,000 casualties, killed and wounded, by 2025.

Zelensky notes that Putin’s army failed to capture a single major city in 2023, while Ukraine managed to break through the Russian blockade on the Black Sea and is now transporting millions of tons of grain along a new route that runs along Ukraine’s southern coast (and then enters , to the west territorial waters of Romania – no). “A huge result!” the president exclaims.

However, as a former actor who managed to change the way the world sees Ukraine, Zelenskyi knows that perceptions can become reality in less than helpful ways. In a war that has become a war of resource mobilization, if Ukraine’s supporters become convinced that victory has become impossible, it risks depriving Ukraine of the very money and weapons it needs to win. Fatalism can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, notes The Economist.

This is why the new year is so important. As Russia’s military action gathers pace and Ukraine’s resources are depleted, the attention of America and many European countries in an election year turns to domestic politics. Zelensky’s task is more difficult than ever, and such high stakes have not been seen since the first days of the struggle.

“Putin will eat you for lunch with the EU, NATO, freedom and democracy”

His central argument is that by supporting Ukraine, Europe protects itself from Russian aggression. “By giving us money or offering weapons, you are supporting yourself. You are saving your children, not ours,” says Zelensky gloomily. If Russia is allowed to take Ukrainian children, “they will take other children as well.” If Russia violates the rights of Ukrainians, “it will violate the rights of the world.” If Ukraine loses, Putin will bring his wars closer to the West. “Putin feels weak like an animal because he is an animal. He feels blood, feels his power. And he will eat you for dinner with the EU, NATO, freedom and democracy,” warns the President of Ukraine.

Zelensky, straightening his shoulders, imposes his point of view, tapping his fingers on the table in the meeting room: “Perhaps something is missing. Or maybe someone is missing. The one who can speak about Ukraine as protection for us, for everyone.”

European countries should put pressure on America to support Ukraine, for their own good, the Kyiv leader believes. “The special services of several European countries have begun to (study) the possibility of an attack on their territory by Russia… Even those countries that were not part of the USSR,” says Zelensky.

As for proposals for negotiations, Zelenskyi says that he does not see “any principled steps for peace on the part of Russia.” Instead, Ukrainians are experiencing a flurry of airstrikes on Ukrainian cities in the east, south, north and west. “I see only the steps of a terrorist country,” Zelenskyy emphasizes.

And if Russia is sending signals about wanting to freeze the conflict, as some Western media report, “it’s not because they are fair people, but because they lack missiles, ammunition, and trained troops. They need this break to regain all their strength. And then let them turn the page of this war with all their might,” says Zelensky.

“Crimea and the Black Sea will become the center of gravity of the war”

The Economist noted that the Ukrainian president did not provide many details about what Ukraine might achieve in 2024, saying that leaks ahead of last summer’s counteroffensive helped Russia prepare its defenses.

But if there is a message in it, it is that Crimea and the related battle in the Black Sea will become the center of gravity of the war. The isolation of Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, and the degradation of Russian military capabilities there “are extremely important to us because it means how we can reduce the number of attacks in that region,” he explains.

A successful operation would be “an example for the whole world,” Zelenskyi continues. It would also have an important effect inside Russia. Losing the centerpiece of Kremlin propaganda would show that “thousands of Russian officers died only because of Putin’s ambitions.”

Ukraine has already achieved hard-to-imagine victories on the strategically important peninsula, destroying a “good number” of Russian fleet ships in the Black Sea. British officials say a fifth of that fleet has been destroyed in the past four months alone. Losing the naval bases that Russia has had for the past 240 years would be a huge shame for Putin.

Kerch Bridge, a military facility

But Zelensky says the speed of any success will depend on the military assistance he receives from Western partners. He turned to the Taurus, a long-range German cruise missile that has the ability to detonate deep inside a target. This could allow Ukraine to destroy the $4 billion Kerch Bridge, effectively isolating the Crimean Peninsula from Russia. “Russia should know that this is a military goal for us,” Zelenskyy emphasizes.

But he suggests that the Germans are not the only Western power standing in his way.

Zelensky remains less open about his goals in the east and south. The declared strategic ambitions to return Ukraine to its original borders have not changed and will not change, but he no longer sets deadlines or promises how much territory Ukraine can “liberate” next year. His immediate task in the land war will be “the protection of the east, the preservation of these very important cities of Ukraine, in the east and south, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv” and the protection of the critical infrastructure of his country.

Zaluzhny changed Zelensky’s message

Zelensky’s high expectations on the eve of the 2023 counteroffensive partially led to a sense of disappointment. In an interview given to The Economist in November 2023 by the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhnyi, he acknowledged the impasse on the battlefield. While this initially provoked an angry reaction from Zelenskyi, it also gave him an opportunity to change his message.

In order to support this smoldering war, not only the West must mobilize, but also, first of all, Ukraine itself. “We have to pay attention to our own strengths,” says Zelensky. While he remains confident that America will eventually provide military aid, Ukraine, he said, is also ramping up its own production in case Western supplies fall short. It was this message that he repeated in his brash and sober New Year’s speech, which was markedly less optimistic than his words on December 31, 2022. As part of this Plan B, he is asking the US government to grant Ukraine licenses to manufacture weapons, from artillery and missile systems to air defense.

“The mobilization of Ukrainian society and the world” since the beginning of the war is no longer there today, Zelenskyy admits. “That has to change,” he says. Polls show that lowering the mobilization age from the current 27 years and reducing grounds for exemption from military service are unpopular.

But the leader of Ukraine insists that there is no alternative. “Mobilization is not only that fighters go to the front. It’s about all of us. It is about mobilizing all efforts. This is the only way to protect your state and enslave our land. Let’s be honest, we have moved on to domestic politics,” says Zelensky. This is a choice that Ukrainians will have to make. “If we are going to continue to focus on domestic politics, we have to call elections. Let’s change the law, the Constitution. But forget about the counteroffensive and evacuation operations,” he says.

After almost two years of full-scale war, the Zelenskys have lost their youth. But he remains adamant that Ukraine cannot abandon its plan to defeat Russia. “The most important profession that a Ukrainian can do now is to be in Ukraine, and for our Western partners, it is to be with Ukraine. If there is no strength, then either go or step aside. We will not film,” the Ukrainian leader promises.

The question is whether the communications master of 2022 can convince the rest of the world to share that belief, The Economist concludes. (Source: News.ro)