No end to war in sight, Russia must abandon imperial goals - Krzysztof Zanussi

He shared his thoughts in the program "People of Change with Lesya Vakulyuk" on the Espreso TV channel.

"I keep waiting constantly, hoping for a new figure to emerge in this hemisphere, as poetically said, that will change things, that some external factor will unblock the situation. I'm not a political scientist, and I can't imagine what this world might look like in a year, but I read many hypotheses, and none are convincing or satisfactory; I wouldn't be satisfied with any of them," he said.

The director spoke about how he thinks the war should end. According to him, greater concessions from Ukraine are expected, which would mean the conflict will continue to smolder.

"What will those concessions be? It’s unclear. I wouldn't be surprised, but this is a fantasy, if I were a writer in the style of 'science fiction,' that the situation on the front might suddenly change, and the President of the United States unexpectedly becomes a supporter of tough sanctions on Russia, if it serves America's interests, and also the raw materials it needs. Everything could turn around with each passing day—that's the nature of politics. Such a political style has emerged now: no consequences, but a lot of surprises. So, I don't see a positive resolution. Russia must change its intentions, namely, renouncing its imperial ambitions and focusing on its internal development, which I wish for them, but I don't see any real signs of this," Zanussi said.

"Perhaps we are already in World War III," says Krzysztof. "War seems to be the natural state humanity finds itself in, unless it escalates to a large scale."

"I think the Cold War was the third one, and now they are calling this war the fourth, because we want to scare ourselves with that term. As long as bombs aren't falling on our homes, we think this war isn't global. But when we look at what is happening in the Middle East, what is happening in those distant places, we constantly see some bad fires burning," he added.

• Defense Express Editor-in-Chief Oleh Katkov believes that there are no signs of the Russian-Ukrainian war ending in the short term.