In an interview with the Financial Times, he asserts that Russia's new strategy of hitting Ukraine's infrastructure[/B] is plunging the country into darkness, will not weaken the determination of his compatriots to liberate all occupied Ukrainian land, Volodymyr Zelensky has granted.
The Ukrainian president 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 the Ukrainian territory it has occupied.
"We must return all the territories... because I believe that the battlefield is the way when there is no diplomacy," Zelensky said. "If you can't get your territories back completely, the war just freezes. It's a matter of time before it starts again," he added, speaking to the British newspaper."
As the FT points out, on Wednesday the Russians fired 70 missiles at Ukrainian infrastructure targets, plunging about 80 percent of the country into darkness and leaving it without water.
From the presidential palace in Kiev, which also had no water yesterday, the Ukrainian leader said this kind of strike was unthinkable in the modern world. "It's the kind of incident that hasn't happened for 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 their intensive efforts to repair the damage, although the newspaper noted that stocks of Soviet-era transformers are dwindling to replace those no longer working in the country's electricity grid due to the Russian attacks. Kiev is now asking for spare parts from Poland and Lithuania.
And Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov has said the country needs hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid just to repair its power 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 supply.
The Ukrainian leader's assessment is that by attacking civilian infrastructure, the Russians are showing that they have no intention of negotiating an end to the war.
He acknowledged "confusion" and concern regarding Ukraine's intention to claim the recovery of Crimea, but insisted. "If someone is ready to offer us a way regarding the lifting of the occupation of Crimea by non-military means, I would support him. If the solution does not include the lifting of occupation and includes Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, no one should waste his time. It is a waste of time," Zelensky said.
Source: CNA
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