Italy's defense minister says Ukraine can never win war against Russia
Photo: Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto (Getty Images)
Ukraine will never be able to win the war against Russia. A true victory for Kyiv means something else, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview with the BBC.
"Ukraine will never be able to win this war. Because when someone in Italy said, 'Ukraine will win the war,' some people thought that Ukraine wanted to defeat Russia. That Zelenskyy would practically enter Moscow with a Ukrainian flag. No, that's impossible," Crosetto said.
He noted that his goal is to ensure Ukraine's survival and bring the war to an end.
"For Ukraine, victory means Russia leaving, stopping the bombing, and Ukraine becoming a free country again — free to live and have its own future. That is the kind of victory we all want for Ukraine," the minister explained.
He said that most Italian citizens oppose providing aid to Ukraine, while the country's government continues to support it.
Italy has already delivered 12 aid packages to Ukraine and will likely send another one by the end of the year.
Crosetto noted that Putin wants to restore Russia to the form it had before the collapse of the Soviet Union because he is unwilling to accept that Russia is not on par with the US or China and would like to "become the third party at that table."
"Russia attacked Ukraine, Crimea, and Georgia, and if we look further back in history, Afghanistan. So, the idea of attacking to occupy territory is embedded in the Russian mindset," he stressed.
The Italian minister emphasized that Russia is now directing a significant portion of its budget toward investments in weapons and the military, suggesting that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has no intention of stopping at Ukraine.
"Their military personnel numbers will reach 1.5 million. So, if the war ended tomorrow, what would Putin do with 1.5 million soldiers? If he stopped the war tomorrow morning, he would face domestic problems. Given that he continues to ramp up his efforts, this leads me to believe that he will not want to stop at Ukraine. That is why we, as Europe and NATO, are preparing," he added.
Earlier, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that Ukraine had already achieved its main victory in the war because Russia had failed to carry out its original invasion plan.
