Fate of Ukraine will determine extent to which war will affect Europe, - Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Ukraine's territorial concessions will give Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin a springboard for a new offensive.
He said this in an interview with Le Point, according to Censor.NET.
Some media outlets claim that if Ukrainian soldiers leave the eastern regions of our country, peace will be restored there. But this is not true. Putin seized Crimea to use it as a springboard to encircle the south. In 2014, he seized part of the east of our country to use it as a springboard for the complete occupation of these regions. If tomorrow we somehow leave Donbas, which will not happen, we will open up an unprotected space for Putin, next to the city of Kharkiv with a population of 1.5 million. He would also capture the industrial centre of Dnipro. This would open up new opportunities for him," Zelenskyy emphasised.
He added that Europeans should think on a different scale and imagine what would happen if Putin had succeeded in his original plan to capture the whole of Ukraine.
"If Putin managed to capture our entire country, he would use it as a springboard. Whether he does so or not will depend on how strong Europe is. If Europe is strong, he will probably do nothing, but if it is weak, it will suffer from Russia's actions," the president stressed.
He also noted that Ukraine's fate will determine how much the war will affect Europe and where its eastern border will be.
"If Ukraine does not stand firm, this border will be Poland or even Germany. Europe was once divided in this way. The eastern border of West Germany was the border of the Western world. Today, everything depends on us, on how far we allow Russian ambitions to go," Zelenskyy concluded.
