In an interview with the American channel ABC, Volodymyr Zelensky said that he would consider it a victory for Ukraine if its territory does not pass entirely under Russian control.
The Ukrainian president said that Russia wants to “completely occupy“ Ukraine, claiming that this would be Putin's victory.
“For him, this is a victory. And until he does, victory is on our side,“ Zelensky said.
In June, Putin, speaking at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, stressed that Russia has never questioned the right of the Ukrainian people to independence and sovereignty. In September, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, the Russian leader noted that at the same time, Ukraine's accession to NATO and the deployment of foreign troops on its territory are unacceptable for the Russian Federation, and security guarantees must be developed not only for Kiev, but also for Russia.
In addition to the territories of the so-called new regions of the Russian Federation, Russia also controls territories in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions and continues to seize more and more settlements. Putin noted at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg in June that there is an old rule: “where a Russian soldier has set foot, there is ours“.
Referendums on the accession of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions to the Russian Federation were held on September 23-27, 2022. Based on the results of processing 100% of the ballots, 99.23% of voters in the DPR voted to join the Russian Federation, 98.42% in the LPR, 87.05% in the Kherson region and 93.11% in the Zaporizhia region.
On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in the Kremlin about the results of these referendums and signed agreements on the admission of the new regions to Russia.