Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffimed his firm refusal to cede any territory, resisting U.S. pressure for a painful compromise with Russia as he continued to rally European support for Ukraine.

“Undoubtedly, Russia insists for us to give up territories. We, clearly, don’t want to give up anything. That’s what we are fighting for,” Zelenskyy said in a WhatsApp chat late Monday in which he answered reporters’ questions.

“Do we consider ceding any territories? According to the law we don’t have such right. According to Ukraine’s law, our constitution, international law, and to be frank, we don’t have a moral right either.”

  • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
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    11 hours ago

    I’m a long way from fully versed in the intricate power plays involved here etc etc, but I’m amazed Russia didnt roll over them, and I’m pretty appalled that the world didnt rally behind Ukraine.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      3 hours ago

      Everyone in any position of authority in Russia is on the take. This means that the capabilities of the Russian military is purely theoretical, on paper Russia is a formidable force, on paper.

      They sent troops in without equipment, without ammunition, and without supplies. Not because they didn’t think they would need ammunition and food but because someone nicked them all back in 08 and everyone in the military is too scared of Putin to tell him this. Probably because they were the ones that took some of it.

    • MiddleAgesModem@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      I think certain Russians were afraid to tell Putin that the military wasn’t ready. They also didn’t seem to anticipate Javelin missiles or unified Western support. The US learned a few times that invading a country with the goal of taking over the government isn’t always so easy.

      Didn’t seem like the Russians were adequately trained. Unsupported tanks rolling down urban streets with hundreds of windows overheard from which should-fired missiles could rain down. Putin has sent hundreds of thousands of his own people to the slaughter. Dude fucked up.

    • MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca
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      9 hours ago

      Perun has pretty good videos explaining why, and a big reason is that Ukraine had a very good amount of AA as a former Soviet state and it was enough to keep planes out and they didn’t want to send conscripts for political reasons so they sent armored vehicles without a full infantry complement which led to them being easy to pick off with the flood of atgms NATO sent.

    • mcv@lemmy.zip
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      10 hours ago

      I’m appalled that Europe isn’t busy liberating Ukraine the way the UK, US and Canada liberated us.