Even if Ukraine could liberate all its territory, this would not end the war

From the Dialog, Dec 19, 2025:

"Portnikov explained why the Ukrainian Armed Forces' advance to the 1991 borders will not end the war

Journalist Vitaly Portnikov rejected the possibility of a ceasefire in the foreseeable future and provided arguments to support his belief. 

"I don't think there would have been any peaceful dialogue even in the first year of the war. This is another illusion. I don't think there will be any peaceful dialogue if Ukrainian troops succeed in counterattacking on Russian positions," Vitaly Portnikov confidently stated.  

The political analyst voiced his position on the NTA television channel's YouTube channel.  

"I keep explaining: even if Ukrainian troops theoretically managed to reach the 1991 state border, that wouldn't be the end of the war. It would mean moving the front line to the Russian-Ukrainian border, with continued Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and the transformation of Ukraine itself into uninhabitable territory," the publicist warned Ukrainians. 

Portnikov also emphasized an important nuance: "In this situation, the front line doesn't matter if we know the Russians' desire to render the entire territory of Ukraine unviable. Therefore, the only real condition that would force Putin, historically speaking, to abandon the continuation of the war with Ukraine is the exhaustion of Russia's financial and demographic resources, creating threats to the very existence of its repressive regime itself." 

"If such exhaustion doesn't occur and there are no threats, the war will continue for as many years as Putin needs, especially since the majority of Russians fully support the war's central idea, so to speak, 'returning historical lands to Moscow's control.' I have no doubt that Russians would like the war to end, but they understand the idea of ​​this war perfectly well," the journalist concluded." 

In another interview - for the CEO Club Ukraine YouTube channel, Portnikov stated: "I hope that Ukraine will survive as an independent sovereign state. I don't know with what territory or population, but I believe that Russia still lacks the strength to conquer all of Ukraine, and the West has no desire to hand over all of Ukraine to Putin, because that would be a defeat for the West. The main thing is to wait until Russia no longer has the ability to continue destroying this country and its people... I never thought it would be easy. If you think I'm deeply disappointed, no, I'm not. I knew perfectly well how difficult it would be, because I've always understood the Russians' intentions perfectly. I worked in Russia for twenty years, and there were no secrets to me about what would happen. I knew that as soon as Ukraine separated itself from Moscow, what happened would happen, and there was one day in my life in 2014 when I realized it had begun. When I realized the annexation of Crimea was beginning, that Russian troops were entering, I realized a global conflict had begun. It was a difficult day for me, because I saw everything that would happen."