The Ukrainian president has described the conflict as a “war of strength and endurance” and said there will be no definitive end to the war until Russia withdraws from all Ukrainian territory.
London, Thanasis Gavos
Volodymyr Zelensky has given an interview to the Financial Times – in which he assures that Russia’s new strategy of hitting Ukraine’s infrastructure by throwing the country into darkness will not bend the determination of his compatriots to liberate all occupied Ukrainian land.
The Ukrainian President has described the conflict as a “war of strength and endurance” and said there will be no definitive end to the war until Russia withdraws from all Ukrainian territory it has seized.
“We have to return all the territories … because I believe that the battlefield is the way when there is no diplomacy,” Mr. Zelenskiy said. “If you can’t get your lands back completely, the war just freezes. It’s only a matter of time before it starts again,” he added, speaking to the British newspaper.
In an exclusive interview with the FT, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted there will be no lasting resolution to the war unless Russia withdraws from all the territories it is occupying https://t.co/udrKo4iz2V pic.twitter.com/dLZvAmUU8G
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) November 25, 2022
As the FT points out, on Wednesday the Russians launched 70 missiles against Ukrainian infrastructure targets, plunging into darkness and leaving about 80% of the country without water.
From the presidential palace in Kyiv, which was also without water yesterday, the Ukrainian leader said that such strikes are unthinkable in the modern world. “It’s the kind of incident that hasn’t happened in I don’t know how many years, maybe 80, 90 years. A country on the European continent where there was absolutely no light,” he commented.
He praised the country’s state authorities for the intensive effort to repair the damage, although the newspaper notes that stocks of Soviet-era transformers to replace those no longer working in the country’s electricity grid due to the Russian attacks are running low. Now Kyiv is asking for spare parts from Poland and Lithuania.
And Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov has stated that the country needs hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid just to repair the energy supply system.
President Zelensky also called on Western allies to provide more anti-aircraft equipment to Ukraine to better protect critical infrastructure, as well as diesel and natural gas to run generators and restore supplies.
The assessment of the Ukrainian leader is that with the attacks on political infrastructure, the Russians show that they have no intention of negotiating an end to the war.
He acknowledged the “confusion” and concern over Ukraine’s intention to reclaim Crimea, but persisted. “If someone is ready to offer us a way to de-occupy Crimea through non-military means, I would support them. If the solution does not include de-occupation and includes Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, no one should waste their time. It’s a waste of time,” Mr. Zelensky said.
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