Ex-army chief says Ukraine cannot hope for 'miracle' to restore 1991 borders

By Anastasiia Malenko

KYIV (Reuters) -The former head of Ukraine's armed forces has said Kyiv cannot hope for a miracle to happen and regain all the territory it has lost at war with Russia.

Valery Zaluzhnyi said in a speech that Ukraine should not dream of restoring either its borders established with the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule or the frontiers just before Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

President Volodymr Zelenskiy wants the 1991 borders restored but acknowledges Ukraine cannot recapture all occupied land by force and that diplomacy and time will be needed.

Russia occupied the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and annexed it in a move recognised by few countries. Its armed forces now control about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including large parts of eastern Ukraine.

"I hope that there are not people in this room who still hope for some kind of miracle or lucky sign that will bring peace to Ukraine, the borders of 1991 or 2022, and that there will be great happiness afterward," Zaluzhnyi, who was a popular commander-in-chief of the armed forces for the first two years of the war, said in a speech at a forum in Kyiv on Thursday.

"My personal opinion is that the enemy still has resources, forces and means to launch strikes on our territory and attempt specific offensive operations," he said in the speech, which was published by the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet on Friday.

Zaluzhnyi, who is 51, was replaced as top commander in February 2024 after months of reported disagreements between him and Zelenskiy. He is now Ukraine's ambassador to London.

There was no immediate comment by Zelenskiy's office on Zaluzhnyi's remarks.

Zelenskiy and other public figures have long called for the eviction of Russian forces and a return to the 1991 borders, including Crimea.

But as efforts over recent months have focused on launching talks to secure a ceasefire, public statements by Kyiv have been more moderate on the question of ceding territory.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko told the BBC last month that Ukraine may need to temporarily cede land as part of a peace deal with Russia. He said Zelenskiy might be forced to accept a "painful solution" to achieve peace although the Ukrainian people would never accept occupation by Russia.

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

Zaluzhnyi said Russia had been waging a war of attrition for more than a year and, given Ukraine's smaller forces and difficult economic circumstances, Kyiv's only hope was to rely on advanced technology.

"We can speak only about a high-tech war of survival, using a minimum of human resources, a minimum of economic means to achieve maximum benefit," he said.

"And in this situation, we need to understand that: Our financial and economic resources are limited; Our dependence on the help of our partners is absolutely obvious and this must be taken into account."

Opinion polls show Zaluzhnyi is still among the most popular public figures with Ukrainians. Polls also show Zelenskiy's rating rising since his confrontation with U.S. President Donald Trump at a White House meeting in February.

The European Union, in the absence of Russian agreement on a ceasefire, this week imposed new sanctions on Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said discussions on a memorandum it proposes to draft with Ukraine would include the principles of a settlement and the timing and definitions of a possible ceasefire, including its timeframe.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Anastasiia Malenko, Editing by Rod Nickel, Timothy Heritage and Conor Humphries)