President of Ukraine: If we had given up the territory, the war would not have happened

President Zelensky in the message recorded on April 11 – Photo taken from the clip

In an interview with CBS that aired on the morning of April 11 (Vietnam time), President Zelensky worried that Russia was speeding up a new military campaign in the east and southeast. Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader affirmed that he has faith in the armed forces and the Ukrainian people, but whether or not Russia can overcome this attack depends on the speed of US weapons aid.

Asked if Ukraine was ready to give up any territory in exchange for peace, President Zelensky said Ukraine would try to hold out for as long as possible.

“We understand what the Russian side wants in the negotiations. They always ask us to recognize Crimea as Russian territory. But I certainly would never do that,” Mr. Zelensky stressed.

According to Zelensky, Russia not only stops at the Crimean peninsula (annexed in 2014 – PV) but also wants to “occupy the southern territories of Ukraine” and will force Kiev to recognize these territories as part of Russia in negotiations. judge.

“We did not give up our territory in the first place. Had we done that, the war would not have happened,” the Ukrainian leader said.

In a video message broadcast on Facebook later, President Zelensky announced that the country was doing all it could to defeat Russia.

“One more week Ukraine is still alive, despite all the efforts of Russia to destroy us. We are fighting. We are defending. We are repelling attacks,” the Ukrainian leader opened. beginning of the speech.

“They launched an all-out war but acted as if we were responsible for it,” the Ukrainian leader said, adding that Moscow would launch more powerful attacks in eastern Ukraine. for fear of losing.

“But we are ready,” Zelensky said, promising the Ukrainian people that they would have enough weapons to fight and calling on the world to continue to help by punishing Russia more severely.

The Russian Defense Ministry has previously announced that it will focus on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian troops and separatists believed to be backed by Russia have been in a tug-of-war since 2014.

Western media and observers fear that Russia’s replacement of the commander, who has battle experience in Syria, will make the situation more severe. So far Russia has not confirmed or denied the information about replacing the commander of the “special military operation” in Ukraine.