Aslan Bzhania, the de facto President of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, on Thursday claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wished a “new, bloody war” in the Caucasus, responding to Zelenskyy’s recent claims that Kyiv’s victory in its conflict with Russia could also lead to the restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity. 

"This statement [of the President of Ukraine] proves that Zelenskyy and the forces behind him want to start a new bloody war in the Caucasus region. Ukraine is trying to expand the geography of the participants in the conflict and create an additional zone of instability around Russia ... I hope that the current leadership of Georgia will show restraint and pragmatism. I don't think that the war is profitable for them today," said Bzhania.

He claimed Zelenskyy was making such statements regularly, and "the West reacts to them either slowly or not at all, because they share similar views on Abkhazia".

Bzhania added a new deal with Moscow on the deployment of Russia’s naval forces in the region’s Ochamchire city was in “Abkhazia’s interest”.