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War won't be over until Crimea…: Ukraine's Zelensky's assertion
On Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's brief rebellion, Zelensky said that it showed that Vladimir Putin "doesn't control everything".
The Russia-Ukraine war will not be over until Crimea is back in Ukrainian hands, Volodymyr Zelensky said. "We cannot imagine Ukraine without Crimea," the Ukrainian president told CNN, adding, "And while Crimea is under the Russian occupation, it means only one thing: the war is not over yet."
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. Asked if the Ukrainian president could envisage a scenario in which peace could be achieved without Crimea, he said, "It will not be victory then."
On Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's brief rebellion, Zelensky said that it showed that Vladimir Putin "doesn't control everything". The Russian leader's response to the attempted coup was lukewarm, his Ukrainian counterpart said, "It's weak. Firstly, we see he doesn't control everything. Wagner moving deep into Russia and taking certain regions shows how easy it is to do. Putin doesn't control the situation in the regions. All that vertical power he used to have is just crumbling down."
Ukrainian intelligence showed the Kremlin was measuring support for Prigozhin, he said, claiming that half of Russia supported the Wagner boss and the group's mutiny.
This comes as Ukraine said it was making gains in the south and east over the past week but the fighting remained “difficult” as Russia's security service (FSB) claimed it had foiled an assassination attempt on the head of Crimea.
"Last week was difficult on the front line. But we are making progress," Volodymyr Zelensky said. “We are moving forward, step by step!,” he added.
Ukraine deputy defence minister Ganna Malyar noted that Ukrainian forces over the past week recaptured nine square kilometres in the east and 28 square kilometres in the south. Ukraine's forces have taken back over 158 square kilometres in the south, Ganna Malyar said.
