Ukraine can only wage a 'high-tech war of survival' against Russia, Zaluzhnyi says

Ukraine cannot expect to return Russian-occupied territories as long as Moscow has the resources to continue its war, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, former commander-in-chief and current ambassador to the U.K., said on May 22.

Speaking via video at a forum in Kyiv, Zaluzhnyi said that Ukraine can only wage a "high-tech war of survival" using a minimum of human and economic resources.

"Ukraine is not capable of (fighting) another war in terms of demography and economy, and we shouldn’t even entertain the thought," the ambassador added.

According to Zaluzhnyi, the only way to win the war is to destroy Russia's military and economic potential to wage it.

"I hope there is no one left in this hall still waiting for a miracle — for some white swan to bring peace to Ukraine, restore the borders of 1991 or 2022, and after that there will be great happiness in Ukraine," Zaluzhnyi said.

He believes that as long as Russia has the resources, manpower, and capability to strike Ukrainian territory and launch offensives, it will continue to do so.

Ukraine's leadership has consistently vowed to restore the country's 1991 borders, which includes the liberation of Crimea and parts of the Donbas occupied by Russia since 2014.

After the failed 2023 counteroffensive and U.S.'s foreign policy shift this year, Kyiv adjusted its rhetoric. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this February that Russia has to pull back its troops to at least the front line as it was before the 2022 invasion.

In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale war, further occupying territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as partially occupying territories in Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.