Ukraine ‘should focus on hi-tech war of survival rather than recapturing territory'

The Guardian

23-05-2025

Ukraine's ambassador to the UK has said Kyiv should focus on fighting a 'hi-tech war of survival' that minimises the loss of its military personnel and not expect to recapture Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea and in the Donbas.
The comments by Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former head of Ukraine's armed forces, comes during an apparently widespread effort from Ukrainian officials to reset public expectations over the progress of a war that has ground on for more than three years amid fears there is no end in sight to the fighting.
Zalzhnyi's comments, made at a forum in Kyiv on Thursday that he addressed by video, mark a change in emphasis from earlier in the conflict when Ukrainian leaders were insistent that the country needed to liberate all Russian-occupied land including Crimea.
'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,' the RBK Ukraine news site and other media quoted Zaluzhnyi telling the forum.
'We can speak only about a hi-tech war of survival, using a minimum of economic means to achieve maximum benefit,' he was quoted as saying. 'Ukraine is not capable of another war in terms of demography and economy, and we shouldn't even entertain the thought,' he added.
Echoing recent remarks of other senior officials and analysts, Zaluzhnyi suggested Russia would continue fighting for as long as it had the resources and manpower, despite its heavy losses, while saying Ukraine should turn its efforts to minimising its own human losses through hi-tech means.
'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.
Zaluzhnyi was replaced as Ukraine's top commander in February 2024 after months of reported disagreements between him and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Opinion polls show Zaluzhnyi to be among the most popular public figures with Ukrainians. Polls also show Zelenskiy's rating rising since his confrontation with Donald Trump at a White House meeting in February.
Zaluzhnyi's comments follow the announcement in March by Ukraine's armed forces that it planned to rapidly expand the use of a 'drone wall' or 'drone line' to counter Russian forces.
Explaining the concept earlier this week, the former Australian general Mick Ryan depicted the proposed drone wall as 'designed to provide a continuous defensive corridor of drones along Ukraine's most vulnerable frontiers to inflict significant casualties on Russian forces, and act as a deterrent against aggression in quieter areas of the frontline'.
Writing in his Futura Doctrina newsletter, Ryan said: 'For some time, Ukrainian officials have discussed the creation of a drone line, or as has it has been described more recently, a drone wall, along the frontline. This drone wall is designed to establish a 10-15-kilometre-wide zone which, according to recent comments by the Ukrainian defence minister, offers ir support and cover to the infantry, that makes the enemy's advance unattainable without losses.'
Sign up to This is Europe
The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment
after newsletter promotion
While adding that Ukraine had already made extensive use of drones in pursuit of this objective, he continued: 'Until recently, the enormous scope of drone operations across the frontline was not envisaged or constructed as a single technological entity.'
His comments came as the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Friday that Moscow would not allow Russian-speakers in Ukraine to remain under the rule of what he called a 'junta' led by President Zelenskyy.
Lavrov said it would be a 'crime' for Russia to allow this to happen. He added that the simplest way to settle the conflict would be for the international community to demand that Ukraine cancel laws discriminating against Russian-speakers. Kyiv denies any such discrimination.
Lavrov's comments highlighted Russia's insistence, in any peace talks, on enforcing the same demands it made at the start of the war. He also appeared to also dismiss Donald Trump's suggestion of Vatican mediation to end the conflict.
Reuters contributed to this article