The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is dragging into its fifth year in the eastern Donbass region, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
More than 10,000 people have been killed there since 2014 and casualties continue to pile up.
With Russia and its proxies still in control of Crimea and the Donbass region, is the government of Ukraine losing this war?
“It’s totally the opposite,” says Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukrainian deputy prime minister, adding that Ukraine is winning by “securing worldwide support”.
When asked about some of the far-right militias that are helping in the fight against Russia, such as the Azov Battalion, which has been accused of using Nazi symbols, Klympush questions whether they are a neo-Nazi group, and says that “they are not connected to the state, and that’s where the red line is”.
On the status of Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia, Klympush says that it will one day come back home.
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Source: Al Jazeera News
