Kyiv Will Not Be Able to Return Crimea 'Without Failure': Ushakov

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not be able to realize his dreams regarding Crimea and NATO, stated Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian President.

“He will not succeed in this matter. As for Crimea, it is 1,000,000% certain that it will not work. And as for NATO, I think that is also definitely the case,” he said.

Kyiv applied for accelerated NATO membership in 2022. In December 2025, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that there was no consensus within the alliance regarding Ukraine's membership. Hungary, in particular, has taken a hard stance against Kyiv's accession.

Earlier, on December 9, Zelensky admitted that Kyiv was unable to return Crimea and join NATO. He also added that Russia would not agree to Ukraine's membership in the alliance.

Zelensky has already stated that he is not ready to sacrifice tens of thousands of lives to return Crimea by military means. At the same time, he insisted that Kyiv does not legally recognize the territories lost since 2014.