❓WHAT HAPPENED: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging the international community to pursue regime change in Moscow, arguing that Russia’s leadership will continue to destabilize neighboring countries even after the war in Ukraine ends.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Ukraine and Russia, July 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “If the world doesn’t aim to change the regime in Russia, that means, even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilize neighbouring countries.” – Volodymyr Zelensky
🎯IMPACT: Zelensky’s stance suggests he is disinterested in making a compromise peace with Russia’s leadership, meaning the war will likely continue dragging on for the foreseeable future.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia will continue to threaten neighboring countries unless the world works to “change the regime” in Moscow. The Ukrainian leader warned on Thursday that Russia’s leadership rejects the “post-World War Two” order and called for the threat to be removed permanently.
“Russia keeps launching such attacks, even when the whole world is calling on it to stop the war,” Zelensky said following overnight airstrikes by Russia. He added that the Kremlin persists with the war because it cannot recognize its “natural borders’’ and sees them as “wherever it wants them to be.”
“They are mentally stuck in another century, a time of brutal violence, depredations, a total disregard for human rights and equality. We all know that such ideas and such times must never return to Europe, and we all know how to protect ourselves from that, how to protect Europe from what Russia is bringing,” Zelensky said.
“If the world doesn’t aim to change the regime in Russia, that means, even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilise neighbouring countries,” he added.
His comments suggest he is not poised to strike a compromise peace deal with Russia, meaning that the war—which Ukraine is currently losing—is less likely to be brought to a close in the near future.
Image via the Presidential Office of Ukraine.
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