Zelensky says Ukraine will fight until it regains all its territories after Kissinger remark

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during the World Economic Forum on Wednesday that Ukraine would fight until it regained all of its territories — comments that come after former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger remarked that Ukraine’s borders should remain as they were prior to the start of the Russian invasion.

“When Ukraine says that it will fight until it regains all its territories, it means only one thing: that Ukraine will fight until it regains all its territories. This is about independence and sovereignty,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president’s comments came after Kissinger, who spoke at the World Economic Forum on Monday, suggested a different outcome.

“In my view, movement towards negotiations and negotiations on peace need to begin in the next two months so that the outcome of the war should be outlined. But before it could create upheaval and tensions that will be ever-harder to overcome, particularly between the eventual relationship of Russia, Georgia and of Ukraine towards Europe. Ideally, the dividing line should return the status quo ante,” Kissinger said in reference to Ukraine’s borders. 

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, a move the U.S. and a number of other countries view as being illegal. Just days before the start of the invasion, two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine were recognized as independent by the Russian government.

The remarks come as the Russian invasion in Ukraine has lasted three months. Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukraine was open to talks with Russia, but said Moscow needed to show interest in such communication.

“We can move to this stage when we understand that at least the Russian side shows a desire to move from the stage of bloody war to diplomacy,” Zelensky said.