Zelensky: Ukraine will not be able to return all the territories

Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, said that the country now has no way to return all the lost territories by military means.

"We are adequate people and we cannot lose millions of people for the sake of a result that is not yet a fact that it will be," Zelensky said, stating that this is due to insufficient support from Ukraine's partners.

However, sooner or later, he is sure, the territories will be returned.

"It could be a combined approach. A military man on the battlefield, as our military do, somewhere by diplomatic means," Zelensky said.

He added that the country will never recognize Russia's sovereignty over Crimea, Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

These regions became part of Russia following referendums in 2014 and 2022, their legality is not recognized by most states. The Russian authorities consider the issue of ownership of these territories closed, the conditions of Russian President Vladimir Putin include the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and fixing their status in international treaties as Russian regions.

In January, Zelensky said that for fair settlement negotiations, Kiev must receive guarantees that Russia will return at least to the borders of 2022. Moscow has repeatedly stated its readiness for negotiations with Kiev, provided that the realities on the ground are recognized.

According to Zelensky, during the full-scale battles with Russia, 45 thousand Ukrainian servicemen were killed, 390 thousand wounded, thousands more were missing or captured. In December, he estimated the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at 43 thousand dead and 370 thousand wounded. Previously, Kiev did not disclose data on losses, the country's Defense Ministry stated that the information would remain closed until the end of martial law.

The Russian General Staff in December stated that since February 2022, the losses of the Ukrainian side amounted to about a million people killed and wounded, the same estimate was given by the Ministry of Defense.