Ex-commander says Kyiv cannot expect to retake lost ground amid efforts to reset public expectations

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has said Kyiv should focus on fighting a “hi-tech war of survival” that minimises the loss of its military personnel and not expect to recapture Russian-occupied territory, including Crimea and in the Donbas.

The comments by Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former head of Ukraine’s armed forces, comes during an apparently widespread effort from Ukrainian officials to reset public expectations over the progress of a war that has ground on for more than three years amid fears there is no end in sight to the fighting.