Zelenskyy answers whether he’s willing to cede Crimea, other territory in peace deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News that his country “cannot legally acknowledge any occupied territory of Ukraine as Russian,” when asked if he was willing to cede land as part of a peace deal. 

Zelenskyy made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst before the Pentagon announced Wednesday an additional $275 million in military assistance for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. 

“Have you accepted that under any sort of cease-fire agreement or peace deal that some Ukrainian territory may remain in Russian hands?” Yingst asked Zelenskyy. 

“We cannot legally acknowledge any occupied territory of Ukraine as Russian. That is about those territories… occupied by Putin before the full-scale invasion, since 2014,” Zelenskyy responded. “Legally, we are not acknowledging that, we are not adopting that.” 

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Yingst then asked Zelenskyy about the Russian annexation of the Crimea region in 2014, saying, “President Vladimir Putin has been very clear Crimea will never return to Ukrainian hands. Are you willing to give up Crimea in pursuit of a peace deal to end this war and stop the bloodshed in Europe?” 

“I was already mentioning that we are ready to bring Crimea back diplomatically,” Zelenskyy said. “We cannot spend dozens of thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back… we understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically.” 

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Yingst also reported Wednesday that Zelenskyy told Fox News his country will keep fighting without the support of the U.S., but believes his side will ultimately lose the war if the U.S. withdraws its military funding. 

“As part of the surge in security assistance that President Biden announced on September 26 to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position, the Department of Defense today announced additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs,” the Pentagon said Wednesday. 

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“This announcement is the Biden Administration’s seventieth tranche of equipment to be provided from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021,” it added. “This Presidential Drawdown Authority package, which has an estimated value of $275 million, will provide Ukraine additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs, including: munitions for rocket systems and artillery and anti-tank weapons.”