Ukraine Is Ready to Fight Russia for 10 Years: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 16, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/Screenshot via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country is prepared to fight the Russian Federation for 10 years in order to “take what’s ours” while acknowledging that doing so may come at a “high price.”

During an interview Friday on CNN’s State of the Union, Zelensky noted that Ukraine is unwilling to make any major concessions to Moscow in order to achieve peace between the two countries.

When asked whether Zelenskyy’s goal was to see Ukraine in a better position to negotiate with Russia and bring about peace or defeat Moscow’s military forces and “get them to leave” his country, the president said: “We want to liberate our country, take back what’s ours.”

“We can fight the Russian Federation for 10 years to take what’s ours,” he said. “We can go down such a path,” he continued, noting that “what we want can come at a very high price.”

“And, in any case, all these years of war, where is the compromise coming from the Russian Federation?” Zelenskyy continued. “Maybe we can end this war without any conditions. Maybe the war can end without any dialogue or compromise and without sitting down at the negotiating table with the president of Russia.”

The president acknowledged that the ongoing conflict has devastated his country and its people, who he said are “paying the price” for the war.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as of April 14, a total of 1,964 Ukrainian civilians have died since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, of which 161 were children.

Another 2,613 people have reportedly been injured, although OHCHR believes that the figures for both deaths and injuries may be higher.

“So, for us, this is a really great cost,” he said. “If there is an opportunity to speak [with Russia], we will speak. But to speak only a Russian ultimatum, it’s then a question about the attitude towards us, not about whether the dialogue is good or bad. It’s impossible. The sooner it happens, it just means that less are likely to die.”

However, Zelenskyy noted that diplomatic talks between the two countries may not lead to a peaceful solution, although it is “possible” and, “therefore, we should try.”

Zelenskyy’s comments differed from those he made in an interview with The Atlantic, also published on Friday, where he stated that he doesn’t want Ukraine “to fight for our independence for another 10 years.”

“We already have 30 years of our independence. I would not want us to fight for our independence for another 10 years,” the Ukrainian president said.

Elsewhere during Friday’s interview with CNN, Zelenskyy renewed calls to leaders across the globe to provide more assistance and equipment to Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict with Russia’s much “larger” military forces, noting that “there needs to be equipment today or tomorrow, not in two or three months.”

“Some countries are just not offering assistance,” Zelenskyy said. “They can send millions, but we can still lose our state. That’s why one has to strike a balance.”

Officials on Friday said the United States will continue to pour weapons into Ukraine, despite Russia reportedly warning of “unpredictable consequences,” in response to such actions.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told CNN on Friday that “nothing will dissuade” the Biden administration from directing weapons to the country, adding that if the Kremlin is concerned that the Biden administration is ”providing billions of dollars worth of security assistance to our Ukrainian partners … then we’re guilty as charged.”

The United States has sent more than $2.5 billion worth of arms and other military aid to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24.

On April 13, Biden announced that his government has authorized a further $800 million in weapons, ammunition, and other security assistance to Ukraine, noting that the country has used the weapons provided by the United States “to devastating effect.”