In his new column for LIGA.net, former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom Valeriy Zaluzhny gave one of the strongest assessments of the Russian-Ukrainian war as of the end of 2025. After twelve years of fighting, he emphasizes: this war has already gone beyond the boundaries of a regional conflict and is increasingly taking on the features of an almost global confrontation.
Although the number of victims does not yet correspond to the scale of world wars, the impact that Russian aggression has on global politics, economics, and the security system is so powerful that the world is actually on the threshold of a qualitatively new, dangerous stage.
Zaluzhny emphasizes: the current situation in Ukraine does not allow us to talk about a “compromise peace”. Any quick end to the war on Russia’s terms would mean the collapse of Ukraine’s statehood, the loss of freedom and independence. He notes that the Kremlin’s aggressive ambitions are not limited to Ukraine – they pose a threat to the entire region, and therefore the issue of the future security architecture should become a priority for Europe.
"Peace in Europe is impossible without a new security system, at least in Eastern Europe," emphasizes Zaluzhny.
To reinforce the message, he quotes Benjamin Franklin's words, which sound especially poignant today:
"Those who give up liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
The general also reminds us that World War II ended with the complete defeat of the aggressor — but this is rather an exception in world history. “Most wars end either in mutual defeat, or with everyone considering themselves the victor, or in other, less certain scenarios,” he writes.
His warning is addressed not only to Ukrainians, but also to European societies, which sometimes tend to view the war as a local problem. Zaluzhny emphasizes: this war has long ceased to be purely Ukrainian.
