Ukraine’s president pledged that Kyiv would continue to liberate Ukrainian territories seized by Russian forces.
The president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said today Wednesday that he does not believe that the world will allow the Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons, and pledged that Kyiv would continue to liberate Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces.
Zelensky made the comments in an interview with German broadcaster BILD, which was published hours after the Russian president announced a partial mobilization and warned that Moscow would respond to “nuclear blackmail” by the West.
It is Russia’s first such deployment since World War II and marked the biggest escalation of the war in Ukraine since Moscow invaded in February.
“I don’t believe he (Putin) will use these weapons. I don’t think people will let him to use these weapons,” Zelensky said, according to a text published by BILD.
“Tomorrow Putin can say: in addition to Ukraine, we also want a part of Poland, otherwise we will use nuclear weapons. We cannot make these concessions,” he said.
Ukraine has recaptured swathes of its territory after a lightning counter-offensive in recent weeks, inflicting mounting casualties on Russian troops.
The mobilization announced by Putin came in response to Russia’s failures on the battlefield, Zelensky argued.
“He sees that his units they just run away” the Ukrainian president said, adding that Putin “wants to drown Ukraine in blood, including the blood of its own soldiers.”
Zelensky also disparaged plans by four Russian-held regions of Ukraine to hold referendums on September 23-27 on joining Russia, saying it was a “fraud” that would not be recognized by most countries.
“We will act on our plans step by step. I am sure that we will liberate our lands”, he added.
The Ukrainian president has made it clear that talks with Vladimir Putin to end the war are increasingly unlikely, adding that this could only happen if the Russian president withdraws his forces from Ukrainian soil.
Zelensky said Ukraine has no influence on when Putin’s rule in Russia ends, but wants to talk to Moscow from a position of strength.
The Ukrainian president also repeated his call for Germany to supply weapons and air defense systems to Ukraine, saying they are needed to save lives.
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