Medvedev Warns Ukraine Conflict Could Last Decades

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that the Ukraine conflict could drag on for decades. He believes that as long as Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the president of Ukraine, truce negotiations are impossible.

“This conflict is very long,” Medvedev said in an interview. “This is all for decades, probably. This is a new reality, new living conditions.” He explained that if Ukraine and Russia were to negotiate a ceasefire, it would not be a long-term solution to the conflict.

While there is such power [in Kyiv], there will be, say, three years of ceasefire, two years of conflict, and again everything will be repeated.
—Dmitry Medvedev

Medvedev said Russia’s purpose is to “destroy the very nature of Nazi power in Kyiv.” But he added that the two nations may have to eventually come to some sort of agreement: “Everything always ends in negotiations. This is inevitable, but as long as these people are in power, the situation for Russia will not change in terms of negotiations.”

He also warned that if the West tried to respond by arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons, a preemptive nuclear strike from Russia was still a possibility.

There are irreversible laws of war. If it comes to nuclear weapons, there will have to be a preemptive strike. The Anglo-Saxons do not fully realize this and believe that it will not come to this. It will under certain conditions.
—Dmitry Medvedev

Learn more: When Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, it expected a quick and easy takeover, but the war is entering its 16th month and there is still little sign of reconciliation between the two countries.

To learn what to expect from the war, read “The Ukraine War Will Not Start World War III!”