Dmytro Kuleba discussed Putin’s next moves and what Ukraine would consider victory.

Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a temporary ceasefire in observation of the Russian orthodox celebration of Christmas. Ukraine did not acknowledge the ceasefire, dismissing it as a stalling tactic, and according to some reports, the Russian forces continued their attacks anyway.

In an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba discussed the ceasefire, as well as where the conflict could potentially go next.

“If I look at the battlefield and the situation now, I think that Putin doesn’t have too many options,” Kuleba said of Putin. “In fact, I think he has only one option, but he doesn’t want to accept it. And that option is losing the war. The difficulty and the tragedy of this moment is that he is not willing to face the truth and to seek the way out. Instead, he’s throwing more and more resources and, most importantly, human resources into the battle, trying to win at any cost. But this is not going to happen. He’s not going to win.”

When asked what would be considered a definitive victory in the overall conflict, Kuleba said that “point one is restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.”

“We always have to remember that the probability of Ukraine surviving the Russian invasion and the probability of you and me talking in January 2023 was even less likely and was even lower than the one you were mentioning … Ukraine has outperformed even its own expectations.”