Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

Putin would rather die than admit defeat in Ukraine, says former Croatian president

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović knows a thing or two about Vladimir Putin, who she met multiple times when she was Croatia's president. So, how does she see the future of Russia's war in Ukraine?

It's not looking good.

In a Global Stage livestream conversation held at United Nations headquarters, Grabar-Kitarović says that Putin is unlikely to back down from a "special military operation" driven by what the Russian leader sees as Western humiliation during the Cold War.


Although the war has weakened Russia's economy and military and made the country a junior partner to China, the former Croatian president thinks Putin “would rather die than admit defeat."

Since Ukraine will also not cede an inch of sovereign territory, Grabar-Kitarović believes the fighting will continue. And a ceasefire won't stop Putin from trying to realize his ultimate ambition of taking over all of Ukraine.

More from Global Stage

Can we use AI to secure the world's digital future?

How do we ensure AI is safe, available to everyone, and enhancing productivity? It’s a big topic at this year’s UN General Assembly. That’s why GZERO’s Global Stage livestream brought together leading experts at the heart of the action for “Live from the United Nations: Securing our Digital Future,” an event produced in partnership between the Complex Risk Analytics Fund, or CRAF’d, and GZERO Media’s Global Stage series, sponsored by Microsoft.

Is the Europe-US rift leaving us all vulnerable?

As the tense and politically charged 2025 Munich Security Conference draws to a close, GZERO’s Global Stage series presents a conversation about strained relationships between the US and Europe, Ukraine's path ahead, and rising threats in cyberspace.

AI for the entrepreneur

At the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis sat down with AI educator and content creator Natalie Choprasert, whose mission is to make artificial intelligence more accessible to everyday business owners.

Skilling for the AI era: What do you need to succeed?

"AI isn’t one thing, it’s everything, everywhere, all at once,” says Naria Santa Lucia, General Manager of Microsoft Elevate. In this Global Stage conversation with GZERO’s Tony Maciulis at the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, Santa Lucia explores how generative AI is transforming not just the way we work—but how we prepare to work at all.

AI for Good depends on global cooperation, says ITU's Doreen Bogdan-Martin

Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the ITU, discusses the urgent global challenge of the widening digital divide in AI access and policy at the 2025 AI for Good Summit, in an exclusive Global Stage interview with GZERO's Tony Maciulis.

AI innovations that tackle the global refugee crisis

“Tech is a means to an end, not the end itself,” says Hovig Etyemezian, head of UNHCR’s Innovation Service. Speaking to GZERO's Tony Maciulis at the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, Etyemezian explains how technology is helping address one of the world’s most urgent challenges: the record number of forcibly displaced people. As conflicts rise and resources shrink, UNHCR is using data, AI, and digital tools to improve services and empower refugee communities, but only when designed with those communities, not for them.