Zelenskyy: Ukraine should reclaim everything, no frozen conflict should remain

OLENA ROSHCHINA – Monday, 8 August 2022, 23:35

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, recalling the wars in Georgia and Ukraine, said that only Russia's loss of everything captured and international legal responsibility for an act of aggression will work as safeguards against new wars.

Source: Presidential video address

Quote: "These days, people recall the Russian war against Georgia in 2008. There are many talks about the prerequisites of that war, about its consequences. [People discuss] how that year's refusal to provide Ukraine and Georgia with a NATO Membership Action Plan increased the audacity of the Russian leadership."

"Nevertheless, that war has not yet become history and has not completely receded into the past. Therefore, it is necessary to talk about what can be done rather than about what has passed."

"The challenges of that time are still very relevant today. It is not only because the threat of further Russian aggression in this part of the Caucasus continues to persist, even though it is frozen. Only now has the world begun to realise the need for real, effective tools to prevent such aggressions and to bring any aggressors to justice."

Details: Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the wars of 2008, 2014, and 2022 "have a different scale and nature," but the essence of these conflicts is the same: regional and global security mechanisms did not work.

That is why, he insists, the principle of precaution is necessary in international relations: "If it is clear that a state is preparing an act of aggression – unjust, unprovoked, illegal, – then the world's reaction to its preparation should be the same as to the aggression that has already happened."

Quote: "Neither smouldering nor frozen conflict should remain after this Russian war against Ukraine. This is an important conclusion. Ukraine must return everything that Russia temporarily seized, and the aggressor state must be punished for the crime of aggression. And this is important not only for justice."

"Only the obvious defeat of the aggressor, their loss of everything captured and their international legal responsibility for aggression are safeguards against any war."

Details: The President added that Ukrainian diplomats, the Office of the President, government officials and everyone engaged in organising a global political, economic and legal response to Russian aggression are working on this agenda.

In his opinion, by protecting their own state Ukrainians automatically protect everyone who has already been threatened or may still be threatened by a terrorist state.

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