Reznikov on war end scenarios: No Minsk 3, no surrender

"The first scenario will resemble the so-called ‘Russians’ gesture of goodwill’ which they declared when fleeing Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Sumy region, and Snake Island. Accordingly, I think it will be broken into several chains. First, we will reach the February 24 positions, then, of course, there will be some conversations about the status of the previously occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea, but we will conduct these negotiations at the table with our powerful partners. There will be no Minsk 3 for sure. There will be no surrender agreements, and no one will negotiate at a gunpoint," Reznikov said during the “Building Together” online conference organized by Forbes, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The second scenario, according to Reznikov, could be a gradual "war of resources". However, Ukraine will be able to achieve the effect in this case only if it uses modern technologies.

"The war of resource against resource. They have more people, more territories, tanks, planes and so on, but it is all obsolete, and today they use the meat grinder principle," Reznikov explained, adding that, according to international partners, they won't be able to help in such a war. But if Ukraine will use modern technologies and strike at the Russian side, the most painful points, then Ukraine will definitely win.

"The second option for victory, perhaps, is not so quick, not before the end of the year. Perhaps, it will last till the beginning of the next year, but I see it this way," Reznikov noted.

The third option is the collapse of the Russian Federation due to the war in Ukraine, the minister believes.

"A more dramatic scenario for the Russian Federation is its collapse, it is a ‘parade of sovereignties’ into several different subjects: Tatarstan, Bashkortostan [regions], eastern ones etc. We will definitely see it in our lifetime, but this is a long-term story," Reznikov said.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops shell and destroy key infrastructure facilities, massively fire on Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages with the use of artillery, rocket launchers, and ballistic missiles. Martial law was imposed in Ukraine, general mobilization was announced, the country is repulsing the invaders.

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