Yushchenko: No Ukrainian politician to cede territory for ending war
Ukraine's third president, Viktor Yushchenko, said the U.S. delay in military aid was a "colossal" delay that allowed Putin to do inflict damage on Ukraine.
He said this in an interview with the Associated Press, Ukrinform reports.
According to Yushchenko, this delay "is not fatal" for Ukraine, but it forced the Ukrainian military to revise this year's military campaign. He emphasized that greater success can be achieved if allies stand united.
For Putin, the main geopolitical challenge is freedom and democracy, and today he employs all available resources to show that the Western world is weak and incapable of unification, Yushchenko believes.
He went on to support President Volodymyr Zelensky in how he is waging the war, saying that no Ukrainian politician would give up territory for the sake of ending the war. He noted that it would be a "big mistake" for the U.S. and Europe to expect such a deal for the sake of peace, and that it would only encourage Putin to attack again.
This would “give Putin five or seven years to get stronger and then start this misery again”, the former president said.
He called on Western allies to make political decisions quicker to help Ukraine.
"The front line is working 24 hours, it doesn’t take vacation," he said, adding that acute ammo shortages had forced Ukrainian forces to surrender village after village on the front line and sowed concern among Ukraine's Western allies about Kyiv's prospects for repelling the Russian invasion. This sent Putin a signal to "attack, ruin infrastructure, rampage all over Ukraine," Yushchenko emphasized.
"And, of course, this undermines the morale of those in the world who stand with and support Ukraine," said the former president.
According to Yushchenko, Ukraine has suffered heavy losses two years into the full-scale war, and he is ashamed to hear arguments about "war fatigue" and that this should not be an excuse to stop fighting.
“Every day we pay with our lives,” Yushchenko said. “The lives of children and women, the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. Our infrastructure is being destroyed every day.”
He considers Ukraine's victory inevitable, given the sacrifices made by the country's citizens, and sees this war as a defining battle to protect democracy from tyranny and imperialism.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, suggested that Russian advances in Kharkiv region would continue for another three to four days, after which Russian troops are expected to make an offensive move toward Sumy.