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It would be "unacceptable" for Ukraine to "simply give up territory" in any peace deal with Russia, the head of Ukraine's armed forces says. General Oleksandr Syrskyi told Sky News that a "just peace" could only be achieved if fighting stopped along the current front lines and negotiations were then held.
Signaling a complete lack of confidence in the Kremlin's claims that it wants to end its war, he accuses Vladimir Putin of using an attempt by Donald Trump to broker peace talks as "cover" while Russian troops try to seize more ground by force on the battlefield.
The rare intervention offers the clearest indication yet of the Ukrainian military's red lines as Washington tries to negotiate a solution that, according to an initial draft, would require Kiev to hand over the entire Donbas region in the country's east to Moscow.
Volodymyr Zelensky, backed by the United Kingdom and other European allies, has tried on the diplomatic front to strengthen Ukraine's position. But Putin has said that Russia will either militarily occupy Donbass or Ukrainian troops will have to withdraw.
Speaking frankly, General Syrskyi signals that Ukrainian soldiers will continue to fight if diplomacy fails and warns that the fate of all of Europe is at stake.
“ Our main mission is to defend our land, our country and our population. Of course, for us, it is unacceptable to simply give up territory. What does it mean to give up our land? That is precisely why we are fighting: not to give up our territory ,” he said in an exclusive interview in the basement of a building in eastern Ukraine.
Many troops have died fighting for Ukraine since Russia first invaded the Crimean peninsula and attacked the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which make up the Donbas, in 2014.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians were then mobilized to fight alongside professional soldiers after Putin's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Almost four years later, Russia occupies almost a fifth of Ukraine, including large parts of Donbas, but the Kremlin's forces are far from achieving their initial goal of imposing a pro-Russian government in Kiev.
Asked whether the sacrifice of those people who gave their lives defending their country would be in vain if Ukraine is forced to hand over the land it still controls in Donbas to Moscow, General Syrskyi said he does not consider such a scenario.
“ You know, I don’t even allow myself to consider such a scenario. All wars eventually end, and of course, we hope that ours will end too. And when it does, a just peace should be established. In my understanding, a just peace is peace without preconditions, without giving up territory. It means stopping along the current line of contact. Stop. A ceasefire. And after that, negotiations, without any conditions. Any other format would be an unjust peace and for us it is unacceptable ,” he said.
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