War will not end while Crimea is under occupation - Zelensky
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine's ultimate goal is the de-occupation of Crimea, and only then will it mean that "the war is over," and Zelensky will not consider "peace" without Crimea a victory.
That's according to CNN, Ukrinform reports.
"We cannot imagine Ukraine without Crimea. And while Crimea is under the Russian occupation, it means only one thing: the war is not over yet," Zelensky said.
Answering the question whether there is a scenario in which peace can come without Crimea, Zelensky said: "It will not be victory then."
Zelensky also commented on the "Wagner" mutiny and said that Putin's reaction to these events was weak.
"We see Putin’s reaction. It’s weak. Firstly, we see he doesn’t control everything. Wagner’s moving deep into Russia and taking certain regions shows how easy it is to do. Putin doesn’t control the situation in the regions," he said.
"All that vertical of power he used to have is just crumbling down," Zelensky added.
The president said that Ukrainian intelligence reports show that the Kremlin is "measuring" public support for Prigozhin, and he claims that half of Russia supports the "Wagner" PMC boss and the rebellion of his paramilitary group.
Zelensky also commented on his meeting with the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, who recently visited Kyiv and met with him and Ukrainian intelligence officials.
Zelensky said he was "surprised" to see that his meeting with Burns was reported in the media.
"My communication with the CIA chief should always be behind the scenes," he said."We discuss important things – what Ukraine needs and how Ukraine is prepared to act," the President added.
Burns visited Ukraine several times during the full-scale war.
"We don’t have any secrets from CIA, because we have good relations, and our intelligence services talk with each other," Zelensky said.
He noted that the situation is quite simple: " We have good relations with the CIA chief and we are talking. I told him about all the important things related to the battlefield which we need."
As reported, Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency William Burns said that the armed rebellion of "Wagner" PMC leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was a challenge to the Russian state, which demonstrated the destructive effect of the war in Ukraine.