Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday demanded that Western politicians agree to a speedy embargo on Russian oil, arguing that a delay in the measure would cost Ukrainians their lives.
In a speech that was uploaded to social networking sites in the early hours of the morning, the Ukrainian head of state also said that he would continue to insist that Russia be completely excluded from the international financial system.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine six weeks ago forced more than 4 million people to flee the country, destroyed cities and left thousands dead and wounded.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, Moscow makes so much money from crude exports that it does not consider it necessary to seriously negotiate the restoration of peace. He called on the “democratic world” to immediately impose an embargo.
“Some politicians still can not decide to restrict the flow of petrodollars and petro-euros to Russia so as not to jeopardize their economies,” Zelensky said, adding that he expected an embargo to be imposed.
“The only question is how many more Ukrainians, men and women, the Russian army will have to kill in order for you, some politicians – we know who you are – to find some determination within you,” he added.
Moscow says it launched what it calls a “special military operation” on February 24 to demilitarize and “de-Nazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and Western governments reject this reasoning, talking about pretexts for the invasion.
The US government targeted Russian banks and members of the elite by imposing new sanctions on Wednesday. Mr Zelensky said the measures were spectacular but insufficient.
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