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Interpreting Zelensky’s Shifting Goalposts For Victory
Korybko ^ | 16 Sep 25 | Andrew Korybko

Posted on 09/17/2025 6:48:46 AM PDT by delta7

He finally accepts the impossibility of restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders.

Zelensky recently told ABC News that “Victory, to my mind, Putin's goal is to occupy Ukraine, this is to destroy us, occupy, and did he occupy it?...He didn't occupy us, we win, and I think so, because we have our country.” This is a far cry from the mantra that he’s chanted almost daily for the past 3,5 years since the special operation began about restoring his country’s pre-2014 borders. Quite clearly, he’s hinting that he’ll accept an end to the conflict that doesn’t achieve that aim, thus going with the political flow.

About that, while Trump might escalate US involvement for the purpose of coercing Putin into freezing the conflict without obtaining any of his stated goals therein, he doesn’t have any illusions about Ukraine restoring its pre-2014 borders. The same goes for if he tries to make a direct NATO intervention there, whether before or after hostilities cease and regardless of whether it precedes a no-fly zone, a fait accompli. Zelensky is aware of this and doesn’t want to risk Trump’s wrath by demanding the impossible.

Accordingly, he’s now begun the task of correcting domestic and Western perceptions of victory, ergo why he’s now shifting the goalposts by claiming that this has been achieved just by ending the conflict without Russia occupying all of Ukraine. The problem is that Russia never intended to occupy all of Ukraine. This is proven by it never even trying to take Odessa, not to mention making no moves whatsoever on Western Ukraine, with Kiev’s environs being the furthest west that Russia ever went.

To be sure, some of its supporters have fantasized that Russia’s goal is to occupy all of Ukraine up to the Polish border, but this has always been wishful thinking and never a reflection of Russia’s stated goals or even its implied ones as proven by the course of military operations. By spinning this baseless speculation as strategic fact, which inadvertently highlights the curious narrative convergence between some of Russia’s and Ukraine’s supporters, Zelensky hopes to settle for less without “losing face”.

He's motivated not only by concerns about his legacy, but also by fear of an ultra-nationalist (fascist) revolt from segments of civil society and the armed forces in the event that he accepts indefinite Russian control over Ukrainian-claimed territories as part of a peace deal. The irony is that Ukraine would have retained the parts of Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions presently under Russian control had Zelensky accepted the terms of spring 2022’s draft peace treaty that the UK and Poland conspired to sabotage.

The precedent established by the epic failure of summer 2023’s counteroffensive, which was prepared for over a year and followed the influx of tens of billions of dollars of military equipment into Ukraine that the West no longer has to spare, suggests that Zelensky won’t claw anything back no matter what . The conflict will thus end with Russia at the very least keeping the lands that it won in those two regions, if not expanding its gains (whether there and/or elsewhere) depending on how everything soon evolves.

Circling back to Zelensky shifting the goalposts for victory, the significance is therefore that he’s truly willing to freeze the conflict along the frontlines at minimum, with the possibility existing that he might even agree to withdraw from the rest of Donbass if Trump orders him to as part of a deal with Putin. That can’t be taken for granted, however, since he thus far hasn’t pressured him on anything so far. In any case, the military-political dynamics continue to favor Russia, and Zelensky has finally accepted this.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: beggarofkiev; greengrifter; littledictator; multiplenicks; proxywar; putinthewarpig; randpaulsucks; russianstooges; russiansuicide; russiantrollfarm; tothelastukrainian; ukraine; vladtheimploder; war; welfarewar; zestinky
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Seems the corrupted little man is now getting a dose of Reality. Vlad will keep his ethnic Russian provinces, ( his stated objective from day one), and the little grifter and pals are preparing for a way out of their debacle….declare” Victory” in “ stopping” Vlad from total occupation.

….do remember St Z is nothing more than a depraved comedian.

1 posted on 09/17/2025 6:48:46 AM PDT by delta7
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To: delta7

Screw your beloved murderous “Vlad” and your love of Russian propaganda.


2 posted on 09/17/2025 7:05:48 AM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: delta7

Zelensky is a hero who has stood up pathetic Putin for going on 4 years now.

And you’re lying about Putin’s stated goals from the beginning and most recently following the meeting with Trump.


3 posted on 09/17/2025 7:07:44 AM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: All

Zelensky’s changing his tune........he recently told ABC News that “Victory is to my mind....... based on Putin’s spoken goal to occupy Ukraine, to destroy us...He didn’t occupy us, so we win, because we still have our country.”

This is a far cry from Zelensky’s mantra he’s chanted almost daily for the past 3,5 years
since the operation began........ about “restoring his country’s pre-2014 borders.”


4 posted on 09/17/2025 7:10:10 AM PDT by Liz (May you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead (Irish blessing))
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To: Williams

“Zelensky is a hero “
—————
You are funny. Prepare for St Z’s “ Victory “…..all the Ukie flag wavers will now chime in how he somehow “ won “, losing Crimea and the five ethnic Russian provinces….he should have honored the Minsk agreements.

“ Zelensky vows Ukraine will take back Crimea from Russia”

BY STEPHEN NEUKAM - 01/19/23

https://thehill.com/policy/international/3819210-zelensky-vows-ukraine-will-take-back-crimea-from-russia/

All the Ukie war supporters were played by the corrupted little man in green. ( and our Western MSM).

“ it is easier to fool people than for them to admit they were fooled” comes to mind.


5 posted on 09/17/2025 7:26:50 AM PDT by delta7
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To: delta7
The problem is that Russia never intended to occupy all of Ukraine. This is proven by it never even trying to take Odessa, not to mention making no moves whatsoever on Western Ukraine, with Kiev’s environs being the furthest west that Russia ever went.

No, not occupy directly but to dominate as a Russian vassal state. As for not trying to take Odessa, does the author forget that Russia crossed the Dnipro and was on its way to Odessa? They did not take Odessa not because they did not want to, but because they were unable to.

6 posted on 09/17/2025 7:32:41 AM PDT by Petrosius
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To: Williams

“Screw your beloved murderous “Vlad” and your love of Russian propaganda”

Tell your beloved Zelensky to go on offense and take his land back from
murderous Vlad.


7 posted on 09/17/2025 7:35:26 AM PDT by tennmountainman ( (“Less propaganda would be appreciated.” JimRobr 12-2-2023 DITTO)
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To: All

Russia does not behave as if they are losing. It is not Russia demanding an “unconditional ceasefire.”

From day one I have not been able to see how any solution other than replacement of Ukraine’s government with a pro Russia military junta could work. It’s not conceivable that anything else can have any chance.

Any negotiated settlement leaving an anti-Russia government in place guarantees NATO troops into the country and resumed shelling/droning of Crimea and the Donbas, or outright internal guerilla-like warfare within Crimea and the Donbas, all funded by NATO regardless of the settlement. The negotiated settlement would also demand reparations. Russia surely knows this. No negotiated settlement is possible.

What polling I have seen suggests zero possibility of an anti Putin replacement of the Russian government with a new NATO-puppet administration that would support leaving the Donbas and Crimea and agreeing to all NATO terms — which would include oil funded reparations and perhaps transfer of oil field ownership to NATO. It’s not conceivable Russia would vote for this.

There have been direct quotes, not the usual imagined quotes, of Putin talking to military academy cadets in which he mused that the eventual outcome will derive from wiping out Ukraine’s military. That looks like the only solution to me. It would lead to the military junta that is technocratic, keeps the lights on and trains on time, has no further interest in the EU or NATO and stops the killing.


8 posted on 09/17/2025 7:47:59 AM PDT by Owen
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To: Petrosius

Spin it anyway you like, best you finally realize Vlad is keeping Crimea and his ethnic Russian provinces. Right or Wrong, it’s Reality.

The Ukie flag wavers here are evaporating, like dew in the hot sun….ditch the Hopium and get a dose of Reality.

“ Killzone🔴Ukraine Under Massive Strikes💥Russians Have Reinforced The Pokrovsk Grouping🪖 MS 2025.09.16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VViuixrPbEY


9 posted on 09/17/2025 7:55:43 AM PDT by delta7
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To: delta7

Vlad keeps hoping the upcoming winter will win for him what his troops cannot, as it did to Napoleon and Hitler.


10 posted on 09/17/2025 8:13:15 AM PDT by Daveinyork ( )
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To: delta7

He finally accepts the impossibility of restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders.

ransomnote: I think Z accepts the impossibility for now, under the current circumstances and administration. This is NATO's proxy war to remove Putin and install their puppet in order to further their plans for world dominion, and NATO hasn't given up its aspirations. 

I believe they will remain primed to resume that war in case they can somehow remove Trump or take the 2028 election. Then it's game on!

About that, while Trump might escalate US involvement for the purpose of coercing Putin into freezing the conflict without obtaining any of his stated goals therein, he doesn’t have any illusions about Ukraine restoring its pre-2014 borders.

ransomnote: Putin has obtained some of his stated goals. He had petitioned the UN to investigate the biowarfare labs in Ukraine. He submitted a report documenting their locations and claims that those labs tested biowarfare agents on unwitting members of the public and Russian soldiers. The day before the war began, Zelensky ordered the destruction of all documents at the Biden family biolab. In the opening hours of the war, Putin struck and destroyed those labs with missiles.

Putin said he pursued the 'de-Nazification' of Ukraine; he's had partial success there. Prior to the war he was trying to negotiate to stop Western Ukraine from shelling Eastern Ukraine in their attempt to kill Ukrainians of Russian descent. Putin has personally secured those areas now.

There are a few other areas re Crimea that may have improved.

Zelensky is aware of this and doesn’t want to risk Trump’s wrath by demanding the impossible.

I believe Trump's wrath surfaces when he talks about the needless deaths in part because Zelensky 'didn't have any cards' and still held out of the impossible. It wasn't merely an impass, it was soldiers dying on both sides needlessly while Z folded his arms over his chest and demanded to be treated like a victor, able to dictate terms. But Z is NATO's boy, so Trump is likely equally angry with the NATO intransigence, if not more so. For example....

Zelenskyy, With EU Support, Continues Looking for Any Excuse to Derail or Avoid Peace Talks – Rejects Mineral Deal, Demands EU Ascension and Security Guarantees
 
03/30/2025 4:43:49 PM PDT · by Macho MAGA Man · 37 replies
The Conservative Treehouse ^ | March 30, 2025 | Sundance

The problem is that Russia never intended to occupy all of Ukraine. This is proven by it never even trying to take Odessa, not to mention making no moves whatsoever on Western Ukraine, with Kiev’s environs being the furthest west that Russia ever went.

That's a hot-button issue for Ukrainian trolls. 'The narrative' that Putin would take over the world unless eliminated must be preserved in order to 'force' the US and other nations to fund the war, and more importantly, to justify a first strike or nuclear conflict to help NATO's plans for world dominion .

Ukraine Frantically Tries to Walk Back Zelensky Call for ‘Preemptive Strikes’ on Russia
 
10/07/2022 7:55:14 AM PDT · by ChicagoConservative27 · 125 replies
Breitbart ^ | 10/07/2022 | Frances Martel
The presidential press office of Ukraine accused global media outlets of “nuclear hysteria” on Thursday for sharing remarks made by President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he asked the world for “preemptive strikes” on Russia to avoid nuclear war.

To be sure, some of its supporters have fantasized that Russia’s goal is to occupy all of Ukraine up to the Polish border, but this has always been wishful thinking and never a reflection of Russia’s stated goals or even its implied ones as proven by the course of military operations. 

Yes. And that's why NATO wants the US to fight Russia for them (hands clean) so they keep trying to get the US in via article 5 (e.g., Zelensky lying about the missiles which landed in Poland, claiming Russia fired them when he knew those missiles were Ukrainian). Alexander Mercouris has provided daily analysis of the war and in some of the notes I've posted, he remarked that NATO's strategy was an endless series of tactics to get the US directly involved in fighting.

Certainly on FR, Ukraine's apologists urge the US to sacrifice herself to 'save the world' from Putin.

         

Also, another analyst pointed out that Putin wants a buffer zone to keep NATO off his borders, and in the current arrangement, he has it. If he took all of Ukraine, he would once again have NATO on his borders. Really, Putin has explained all this and the fact that he wants peaceful trading partners (I think he NEEDS peaceful trading partners) on his borders and harmony among slavic 'brothers'.

He's motivated not only by concerns about his legacy, but also by fear of an ultra-nationalist (fascist) revolt from segments of civil society and the armed forces in the event that he accepts indefinite Russian control over Ukrainian-claimed territories as part of a peace deal.

When some in the West objected to sending billions of dollars to Ukraine given the Azov Nazi prominence, Zelensky incorporated the Azovs into the National Guard. So now with the name change to 'National Guard', Zelensky considers the problem solved. SIgnficant portions of Ukraine revere Banderas and honor his collaboration with the Nazis.

Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. Yes, the Azovs wouldn't mind getting rid of Zelensky the old (Nazi) fashioned way.

The irony is that Ukraine would have retained the parts of Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions presently under Russian control had Zelensky accepted the terms of spring 2022’s draft peace treaty that the UK and Poland conspired to sabotage.

Oh but with Biden in office and the potential overthrow of Russia, Globalists would have control of two nuclear arsenals and could finally rule the world. You know, "You will have nothing and like it" and "Bugs. It's what's for dinner."

The precedent established by the epic failure of summer 2023’s counteroffensive, which was prepared for over a year and followed the influx of tens of billions of dollars of military equipment into Ukraine that the West no longer has to spare...

Biden would have given Ukraine our finest military hardware if he could, but he never did. Z would brag that HIMARS Biden provided would permit strikes deep into Russia, but then I learned the US bought Soviet era launchers which weren't capable of max strike ranges. The US gave very old retrofitted hardware and never gave Z F-16s. The Patriot batteries and missiles were lilkely new, but we really emptied out old equipment and never gave them 'the good stuff.'  I think the NATO expected 'the good stuff' and were themselves so under prepared for their own self-defense that they gave old junk too.  I believe NATO expected state of the art US military hardware, including nukes, and US boots on the ground, and Biden's handlers wanted to provide those things, but couldn't.

.....and Zelensky has finally accepted this.

For now. They may be waiting for future assasination attempts on Trump to remove the impediment they face, and they may be planning to wait as long as 2028 elections.


11 posted on 09/17/2025 8:22:58 AM PDT by ransomnote (IN GOD WE TRUST)
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To: Owen

Vald has nothing left. His Black Sea fleet is toast and they can only transit out, his Air Force is basically grounded, and his ground forces has had over 1m casualties and for what? A little piece of Ukraine littered with mines.

He can’t win. All he can do is torment more death on both sides. If he comes to the peace table, he’s a dead man. Probably is anyways. Putins only hope is to wait out Trumps presidency with hope of a democrat president. 3.5 years is a long time in war.


12 posted on 09/17/2025 8:28:13 AM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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To: ransomnote

Meanwhile, all over Russia including sites 6,000 + km from Ukraine, drones, missiles and saboteurs are burning essential Russian assets. These immense fires are occurring several times per day in widely distant locations.

Especially hard hit are refineries, pipelines, pumping stations, and storage facilities. Of special note are the losses of two important tankers in the port near St Pietersburg. Damage to the port oil export capability and destruction of two of the remaining tankers is catastropic to the oil exports needed to support the whole of the war effort.

The military runs on fuel and supplies are being destroyed. Gas shortages are popping up in several cities. There are online reports of people waiting in gas lines for 8 hours to receive their ration of 10 liters of fuel. Te3n liters is only two and a half gallons or so.

All the old arguments about Zelensky are not reallly meaningful in light of the economic destruction being made on the Russian economy.


13 posted on 09/17/2025 8:34:46 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Where is ZORRO when California so desperately needs him?)
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To: delta7

Crimea is the only ethnic Russian province. Why do you keep implying that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia are ethnic Russian provinces?


14 posted on 09/17/2025 8:40:38 AM PDT by Petrosius
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To: delta7

There is no path to victory for Ukraine. Take whatever deal you can.


15 posted on 09/17/2025 8:41:51 AM PDT by McGruff
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To: delta7
This actually good news. Zelensky, apparently, has come to realize that that any deal to end the war will have to involve Ukraine conceding the annexed territory to Russia.
16 posted on 09/17/2025 9:00:08 AM PDT by Kazan
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To: bert
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Interpreting Zelensky’s Shifting Goalposts For Victory, bert wrote:

Meanwhile, all over Russia including sites 6,000 + km from Ukraine, drones, missiles and saboteurs are burning essential Russian assets. These immense fires are occurring several times per day in widely distant locations.

Especially hard hit are refineries, pipelines, pumping stations, and storage facilities. Of special note are the losses of two important tankers in the port near St Pietersburg. Damage to the port oil export capability and destruction of two of the remaining tankers is catastropic to the oil exports needed to support the whole of the war effort.

The military runs on fuel and supplies are being destroyed. Gas shortages are popping up in several cities. There are online reports of people waiting in gas lines for 8 hours to receive their ration of 10 liters of fuel. Te3n liters is only two and a half gallons or so.

All the old arguments about Zelensky are not reallly meaningful in light of the economic destruction being made on the Russian economy.

All the old arguments about Zelensky are not reallly meaningful in light of the economic destruction being made on the Russian economy.

You know Ukraine has no functioning economy, right? It has 110 year reconstruction projects, formerly called cities, all over the country. Switchign attacks fried sections of the power grid and all electronics plugged into it. Zelensky says he needs 48 billion in funds for the year from Western sources just to run the country. He used to rely on 40 Billion in handouts from Biden. Ukraine's government is supported with western dollars to pay salaries, pensions, emergency services etc. Ukraine is a drain on the economies in NATO and it will be a dependent child for decades.

On the contrary, your post in general supports the theme of my post, that Zelensky and his NATO handlers support destruction for the sake of destruction. It won't change the outcome of the war. If Putin feels the attacks on Russia are an existential threat, he will take out Western assets which are contributing to the attacks. 

NATO/Puppet Z want to destroy Russia. Putin always had the ability to destroy Ukraine but didn't want to do so. 

I'm glad the US did not fall for the tricks played and stayed out of it.

17 posted on 09/17/2025 9:07:07 AM PDT by ransomnote (IN GOD WE TRUST)
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To: delta7

Right on! Great post!!


18 posted on 09/17/2025 9:12:24 AM PDT by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta. )
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To: Bobbyvotes

Right on! Great post!!
——————-
Thanks. I posted it hoping people will start THINKING about what is happening.

To many here don’t even know what Stablecoins are, our declining USD ( purchasing power), our inability to find buyers of our Debt ( Treasury instruments)…..they just believe the BS MSM pumps out, no critical thinking….

If one can realize what is happening, you can prepare and prosper while most suffer wondering why. That said, President Trump is at least trying something different, he knows what deep $hit we are in. We shall see what the unintended consequences will be.


19 posted on 09/17/2025 9:22:25 AM PDT by delta7
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To: DownInFlames

You are funny. I suggest you put the western whiskey bottle down, your hangover is going to be epic.


20 posted on 09/17/2025 9:24:20 AM PDT by delta7
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