Zaluzhnyi: Ukraine’s victory is liberation of all occupied territories

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said this in an interview with Dmytro Komarov’s special project “The Year. Off-screen,” according to Ukrinform.

“Our victory is clearly the liberation of the entire occupied territory of Ukraine. The entire territory must be free. But this is not enough. Ukraine as a state must do everything to ensure that everything that happened and started on February 24 never happens again. It should be a rebuilt military institution that will never give the Russians the opportunity to repeat everything,” he said.

Zaluzhnyi noted that victory is not only a liberated territory but also a powerful and ultra-modern combat-ready army. And some countries in the world demonstrate to others that it is better not to touch them. “Ukraine should become a country of this kind,” Zaluzhnyi said. In response to a clarifying question, Zaluzhnyi said he was talking about Israel.

He added that Ukraine knows what is needed to liberate Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk region from the Russian invaders, but emphasized the large amount of work that cannot be done quickly.

“We know what is needed to liberate Crimea, what is needed to liberate the Donetsk region, the Luhansk region. But this is a huge amount of work that will not be done quickly,” Zaluzhnyi said.

When asked whether Ukraine will return Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, he answered: “Of course, definitely!”