President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian army will not withdraw from Donbas, otherwise, according to him, this will open the prerequisites for a third war and a future offensive on the Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, as well as the city of Kharkiv.

The head of state said this during a conversation with journalists, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part - our territories are illegally occupied. Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive. If we leave Donbas of our own free will or they pressure us, we will open a third war. Why? Crimea was one hundred percent a springboard for an offensive against the south of our state. Donbas was one hundred percent a springboard in order not to spare the citizens of Ukraine, not to use our own, not to do any mobilization (sorry for saying it like that, but it is so), and to turn the separatists into the Russian army, - Zelensky emphasized.

According to him, in 2014, the Russians in Crimea and Donbas formed a bridgehead for a future full-scale invasion.

After a full-scale invasion, if today we withdraw from Donbas, from our fortifications, from our reliefs, from the heights that we control, we will clearly open a bridgehead for preparing the Russian offensive. A few years - and Putin will have an open path to both Zaporizhia and Dnipro regions. And not only. Also to Kharkiv, - said the head of state.

Therefore, in his opinion, any issue of territories cannot be separated from security guarantees.

Otherwise, now they want to give them about 9 thousand square kilometers, this is about 30% of the Donetsk region, and this is a springboard for their new aggression, the President emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a conversation with journalists, suggested that the Russian leader wanted Ukraine to withdraw its troops from Donbas in exchange for other territories and a ceasefire.