No peace in Ukraine just because Putin leaves, warns journalist

Journalist Vitaly Portnykov said this on Espreso TV.

"I think President Zelenskyy, when he talks about Putin, should look at Hamas. They've changed leaders many times, but that hasn’t made the group any safer for Israel. It’s the same here — Russia has a Chekist regime. Whether Putin is in power or not, the threat to Ukraine doesn’t go away. There won’t be peace just because Putin steps down. What he’s doing lines up with the FSB’s goals," he said.

In his view, the next Russian president might be more or less effective in carrying out the same plan to destroy Ukraine.

"Maybe he’ll be ready to delay it during a period of ‘long peace’ just to prepare better and strike harder. Believing the next Russian leader will think any differently than Putin is extremely naive. That belief assumes it's all about one man — but Russia’s been working on ‘integrating’ Ukraine since the 1990s. Putin isn’t just Hamas — he’s Yahya Sinwar. The threat to Ukraine doesn’t change with a change of leader. We need to be more realistic than Ukraine’s president on this. I fully understand his personal hatred for Putin — that’s obvious — but this isn’t just about Putin," Portnykov concluded.

• Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a just peace is possible, but likely only after the end of Putin’s rule.