If Russia is allowed to adapt, Baltic countries could become next victims - Zelensky

TALLINN - Ukraine's intelligence has information that Russia is considering options to freeze the war in Ukraine, which would allow it to restore its destroyed military potential by 2028 and start a new war against other countries such as the Baltics, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the inaugural session of the 3rd European Political Community Summit in Granada on Thursday.

"I will be honest with you, as I always am. Russia is now considering various scenarios for the coming years. One of them is particularly dangerous," the Ukrainian president said according to the text of the speech available on the presidents' website.

"If there is some pause in this aggression against Ukraine -- any freezing of the situation, there will be a new critical moment. 2028. If Russia is allowed to adapt now, by 2028, the Kremlin will be able to restore the military potential that we destroyed, and it will have enough strength to attack the countries in focus of Russian expansion. In addition to Ukraine, these are definitely the Baltic states and definitely other countries where Russian contingents are present. This is clear information from our intelligence. We are signaling it to you," he said.

Zelensky said Russia is trying to freeze the situation, to adapt, and learning from its mistakes, and preparing to move on.

"Please remember that the most dangerous enemy is the one who made conclusions and prepared for the next attack based on these conclusions," he said.

Moscow clearly outlines its ambition -- to capture more imperial space, to prevent Europe from being a place of free nations and working democracies, to break European unity. And war is Russia's basic tool for this -- a tool to enslave or to manipulate others, according to Zelensky.

He said Russia has tried for decades to keep control over the neighboring nations by starting wars and by freezing wars. Russia has hurt Moldova, tried to crush and divide Georgia, destabilize other parts of the Caucasus, strangles Belarus, tries to tear pieces from the body of Ukraine.

"We all have to stay in a special unity, stay together in a special cooperation and in a special relationship with everyone else in the European Union. We all need a format of support for the nations whose lives Russia has already tried to destroy, so that the ruin caused by Russia can never spread anywhere else. All these countries need economic support, and all these countries need security guarantees, so that Russia will not even be tempted to try to break their sovereignty ever again. A clear signal is needed -- Russia has no chance," the Ukrainian president said.

"And most importantly, what will give our unity the full strength... The aggressor is most effectively neutralized by defeat – defeat in war. Right now, and right in Ukraine, we have the opportunity to cause a fundamental defeat to Russia's aggression," he added.