Zelensky urges to be clear-eyed about reintegration of occupied Crimea and Donbas

"Realism is an integral component of reintegration. It is a mistake to think that we will quickly and easily return Crimea by military means. It should be realized that all the people in the occupied territories of Donbas will not start to speak Ukrainian tomorrow at once. We should not entertain illusions or hope that everything will happen with a wave of a magic wand. We must be realists and not be afraid of the truth, bitter as it is sometimes. But it is the truth. And our approach to reintegration of Donbas and Crimea must be balanced and, most importantly, pragmatic," Zelensky said at the Unity Forum in Mariupol, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He added that Ukrainians must clearly answer what our main goal is, whether it is possible to achieve it, how to achieve it and what compromises we are willing to make to achieve this goal.

An important component of the reintegration of temporarily occupied territories is the ability of the state to implement strategies, the President stressed.

"We can adopt at least ten strategies for national unity but we will never achieve any of them without real action," he said.

The Unity Forum, dedicated to the institutionalization of dialogue between society and authorities, has kicked off today in Mariupol, Donetsk region.

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