Securing Ukrainian territory is Europe's strongest security assurance — journalist

Journalist and political observer Vitaly Portnikov stated this in a year-end podcast on Mykola Kniazhytskyi's YouTube channel.

"We have become hostages of a situation where we constantly discuss that the war will end in two or three weeks. And this has been going on for four years now. But we continue to live in a situation where they say: 'in a few weeks...', 'we have never been so close to peace...', " Portnikov stresses.

According to him, communication is, first and foremost, an honest conversation with the people. And if people hear from the authorities for years that everything will end in two or three weeks, it is far from motivating: "We don't know how long the war will last, so it's poison. Because people quickly lose enthusiasm."

Portnikov recalled that Donald Trump offered Russia to cease fire and negotiate peace even when he became the U.S. president.

"Now Russia has a completely different idea, which Trump supported: let's sign a peace treaty, let's resolve the issue of the so-called root causes of the conflict, and when we agree, we will cease fire. This means that such negotiations can last for ten years during hostilities. This means that when all this ends: either the social, military, and demographic potential of Ukraine will be destroyed and it will disappear from the political map of the world, or Russia will lose its economic and demographic potential and will not be able to fight further. Then a decision will be made to cease fire. That's all. It's very simple," Vitaly Portnikov reflects.

He emphasized that Ukrainians should formulate an absolutely clear formula: we want to preserve Ukrainian statehood, Ukrainian identity, and Ukrainian territorial integrity. Ukraine must remain on the political map of the world, and the Ukrainian people - and this is a very important thesis - on their ethnographic lands. Ukraine must remain a stable democracy.

"And we must fight together with our Western partners and allies - with those who want to fight. That's all. And how long will it take? Again, we don't know. So we have to tell people honestly. Can it end next year? Yes. Can it continue next year? Yes. War is not a football match that takes place exactly at a specific time. War has a lot of extra time," Portnikov warns and calls for explaining that our struggle is the guarantee of Europe's security. 

According to him, if Ukraine manages to repel and retain territories under the control of the Ukrainian government, this will be a guarantee of security for Europe: we even have to ask the blunt question of whether there is life for Europe without Ukraine? 

"Obviously, now we are in a very difficult situation when it comes to how ready the United States is to adhere to the idea of Euro-Atlantic solidarity, which they themselves defended for decades. This is also a challenge for Europe. And this challenge must be realistically understood in one way or another. I think this is not a matter of one year," Portnikov says. "We always have to ask Europeans how safe they will feel if Ukraine disappears. And how will you feel when, on the one hand, there will be America, which is not ready for Euro-Atlantic solidarity, and on the other hand - Russia's sphere of influence? Are you sure that you will exist as you existed after 1991? I'm not sure. That is, to talk to people not from the position that we are small and unhappy, and we need to be saved, but to ask how you yourselves will live if you don't save us? This is very logical," Vitaly Portnikov emphasizes.

Portnikov also called not to build illusions about any alliance with Russia and said that it is not even a question of democracy or freedom in the neighboring country.