President Volodymyr Zelensky he said Ukrainian could not be retrieved Crimea It will instead turn to a diplomatic solution, as polls show growing Ukrainian public support for a negotiated solution, even at the expense of territorial concessions.

The Ukrainian president has said on previous occasions that the country will insist on returning all territory seized by Russia since 2014, including the peninsula described in official statements as “temporarily occupied”.

However, Zelensky told Fox News that a military takeover of the region was unrealistic.

“We cannot waste tens of thousands of our people to perish for the sake of Crimea coming back,” he said in an interview Wednesday night, adding that his government would try to get it back through diplomatic means and would not recognize anything. as part of occupied territory Russia.

The apparent climb is as follows Harsh statements from Bryan Lanzaa senior member Donald Trump’s “Crimea is gone” and Ukraine must accept “a realistic vision for peace,” the presidential campaign team said.

Trump’s representatives said Lanza was not speaking on his behalf. But the president-elect criticized U.S. aid to Ukraine and promised a quick deal to end the war—without explaining how; Military analysts believe that a long, bloody and resource-intensive operation will be required to retake Crimea.

Zelensky’s comments come as there are signs that the Ukrainian people are gaining greater clarity on their territorial concessions. A new Gallup poll This week it emerged that 52 percent of Ukrainians favor a negotiated solution to the war, while 38 percent say Ukraine should fight until victory; This was in stark contrast to positions found in the same survey 12 months earlier.

More than half of those who support a negotiated solution said they would be open to land concessions to achieve a deal. Among supporters of complete victory, the proportion of those who accept the loss of Crimea has tripled since 2023, from 5 percent to 15 percent.

Support for complete victory was lowest in the hardest-hit areas such as Donetsk and Kharkiv.

Oleksiy Arestovych, one of Zelensky’s former advisors, said: I The president had resigned himself to the inevitable, but the apparent concession still would not lead to a peace agreement.

“The main event happened; Zelensky announced the return of Crimea through diplomatic rather than military means,” he said. “The obvious has been stated for almost two years. “This signals that his administration accepts the territorial losses, albeit temporarily.”

But Arestovych added: “The dilemma here is that no Ukrainian politician can accept de jure recognition of the occupied territories by Russia, which Putin very much wants. “This means that a comprehensive peace agreement is practically impossible.”

“There are very few options left: a ceasefire, interim peace agreements and a situation where both we and the Russian Federation legally recognize these territories as ours. Such situations are also known in modern history; for example, Northern Cyprus.”

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Former Ukrainian lawmaker Ihor Lutsenko, who now serves in the army, suggested that the West was trying to “force Ukrainian leaders to surrender and refrain from further violence under the guise of compromise.”

He said any concession, even just for Crimea, would lead to deep divisions in Ukrainian society. “There will be a lot of disagreement and no unity on this issue.”

James Nixey, head of Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia program, said regional concessions were unlikely to lead to a peace agreement.

“Russia does not want land or territorial concessions, it wants control,” he said. “If Ukraine gives up territory, willingly or unwillingly, this will not solve the problem.”

Nixey added that the Kremlin believes it has won the war and will now push for “pro-Russian neutrality” that will give it broad power over Ukraine.

“Russia believes it has the strategic advantage and time to get there,” he said. “Russia does not want piecemeal offers because it started this and is going after what it believes is rightfully its own.”

“Small concessions will not benefit Russia. “Big concessions will not benefit Ukraine.”