Zelenskyy hopes the war won't last ten years, but Ukraine is ready to fight for another 2-3 years - Tusk

President Zelenskyy hopes that the war will not last ten years, but that Ukraine is ready to fight for another two or three years. This was stated by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in an interview with The Sunday Times, as reported by UNN.

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Tusk stated that Ukraine has the right to attack Russian-linked targets anywhere in Europe after a court in Warsaw earlier this month blocked Germany's extradition request for a Ukrainian diver accused of involvement in the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines from Russia.

However, he noted that Kyiv is concerned about the toll the war will take on its population and economy if it lasts longer than a few years.

"I have no doubt that Ukraine will survive as an independent state," Tusk said. "Now the main question is how many victims we will see. President Zelenskyy told me (on Thursday) that he hopes the war will not last ten years, but that Ukraine is ready to fight for another two or three years."

The conflict is also harming Russia's economy, which Tusk said "has no chance of surviving" in the long term and faces "dramatic" problems exacerbated by new oil sanctions imposed by the United States. After a coalition of the willing meeting on Friday, European leaders said they hoped a decision would be reached by Christmas to allow Ukraine to access funds from frozen Russian assets. 

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However, Tusk said that internal turmoil would only make President Putin more aggressive, and he was unsure how "stable" President Trump's new punitive approach to Moscow would prove to be.

"The Russians have really deep problems (economically)," Tusk said. "Does that mean we can say we are winning? Not at all. They have one big advantage against the West, and especially Europe: they are ready to fight... in wartime, this is an absolutely crucial issue. You have no chance of winning if you are not ready to fight or at least sacrifice something."

Tusk also warned Great Britain that it can no longer live with the "sweet illusion" that it will be saved in the event of a war between NATO and Russia.