Will the war end in 2024? Major Hetman explained an important nuance

There is a possibility that the war in Ukraine will end in 2024. However, both Ukrainians and our country's Western partners need to finally decide what exactly to call a victory.

This certainty can be achieved by the end of this year. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA by Oleksiy Hetman, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Major of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"Of course, there are such chances, although another question arises here. Maybe I'm wrong-I'd like to be wrong-but it seems to me that we don't have a national concept of what we mean by victory. Many people put different meanings into this concept," he said.

In this context, the war veteran gave several answers to the question of what victory means. "Is it the expulsion of Russians from our territory? Access to the borders on February 24, 2022? Or access to the borders of 1991? Is it our flag over the Kremlin?"

Hetman explained that the vision of society, the army and the West in these matters often differs. Thus, Ukrainian defenders understand that the enemy must be destroyed on its territory.

"Our military say: if the enemy has moved 10 meters into our territory, should we stop? Is he 'in the house'? Are we going to wait until he reformats his units and starts fighting again? No. We have to destroy the enemy wherever he is," said the reserve major.

However, such a move will surely provoke a negative reaction from Western countries. "As soon as we cross the Russian border and start fighting on Russian territory, a lot of people in the world who are not sympathetic to Ukraine will say that we are the aggressors, that we attacked a sovereign country," he predicted.

Summarizing, the war veteran said that certainty in this difficult issue could be achieved by the end of this year.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov did not rule out that Ukraine could win the war with Russia next year. However, he noted that it depends not only on the Ukrainian army, but also on Western partners.