Zelenski Warns, in an Interview Given to CBS, From the Ruins: “Putin Will Quickly Push the War On T

Zelenskiy said that Putin is determined to return the former Soviet Union to its imperial glory and geographical borders.

“Even tomorrow, missiles can fly to any state,” the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with CBS News reporters on Wednesday. “This aggression – and Putin’s army – can reach Europe, and then the citizens of the United States, the soldiers of the United States, will have to protect Europe, because they are NATO members,” Zelenski said.

Asked if the war could be won with Putin still in power, the Ukrainian leader acknowledged it would be a huge challenge for Kiev, but said village by village winning the war would weaken Putin at home and warned that if Ukraine lose, Putin will not stop there.

“For him, we are a satellite of the Russian Federation. Right now, it’s us, then Kazakhstan, then the Baltic states, then Poland, then Germany. At least half of Germany,” he said, reiterating a warning about Putin’s intentions that he also first aired on CBS News several years ago, just before the full-scale invasion of Russia began.

At that stage, Ukraine had already been fighting for years with Russian forces and those supported by Russia, after they entered the east of the country and unilaterally annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

The president of Ukraine met with the CBS News team on Wednesday in a bombed-out building in the far east of his country, the American television station said, adding that the exact location, located about 24 km from the border with Russia, cannot be disclosed, but “bombed buildings are not hard to find here.”

CBS reporter Charlie DAgata, who conducted the interview, said he accompanied Zelenskiy, with heavily armed soldiers watching over the horizon, as he inspected newly dug underground trenches in northeastern Ukraine, on the outskirts of the city of Sumy. The entire area is on a war footing in response to a significant buildup of Russian troops just across the border and attacks on nearby villages, Zelenski explained.

“A new offensive is coming”

As spring approaches, Zelenskiy says Ukrainian forces have been able to withstand the Russian offensive in the toughest winter months.

“I stabilized the situation. It’s better than it was two or three months ago, when we had a big shortage of artillery ammunition and different types of weapons,” he said. “I didn’t see that broad, huge counteroffensive from Russia at all. They were not successful,” Zelenski pointed out.

The Kiev leader admitted, however, that the invading Russian troops and their seemingly endless supply of rockets and shells had destroyed “several villages” in Ukraine.

On the other hand, he says help is needed now, urgently, because a new Russian offensive is coming. “We didn’t have bullets, artillery rockets, a lot of different things,” he said, stressing that, although his troops have largely managed to keep the Russians at bay so far, they are not prepared to defend against another major Russian offensive expected in the coming months.

This offensive, he specified, is expected around the end of May or in June.

“And before that, we not only have to prepare, we not only have to stabilize the situation – because the partners are sometimes very happy that we have stabilized the situation. No, I’m saying we need help now,” Zelenski insisted.

In what has become an artillery war of attrition, Russia not only has the advantage of greater firepower, but also has firepower with greater range. “In Bahmut and Avdiivka and Lîsiceansk and Soledar and so on, it was very difficult to fight with the opponent, whose artillery shell can shoot at 20 and kilometers, and the range of our artillery shell is 20-minus”, he said.

“Usually when they attack with artillery and destroy villages, after that they always try to occupy,” he explained. “We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. That’s why we have to prepare,” the Ukrainian leader added.

Why does he need it the most?

He said what is most needed now are American Patriot missile defense systems and more artillery. While he is grateful for the billions of dollars in US support his country has already received, he said the nature of the funds dedicated by the US government to help Ukraine needs to be put into perspective.

“Tens of billions of dollars are staying in the US,” he said. “Let’s be honest, the money that is allocated by Congress, by the administration, in most cases, 80% of this money – come on, at least over 75% – stays in the USA. This ammunition comes to us, but the production takes place there, and the money stays in the USA, and the taxes stay in the USA,” Zelenski said. “Yes, it is a huge support that comes to us, but we need it”, pleaded the president.

How Putin takes advantage of other events

With US lawmakers still struggling after months of partisan gridlock over a $60 billion aid package, Zelenski acknowledged that the war in Gaza has refocused global attention — and American aid — away from his country’s struggle .

“First of all, we understand that this is a humanitarian disaster,” he said. “Of course, he took the attention from Ukraine in the field of information. It’s a fact, and when you lose attention from your region in favor of other regions, then it’s obvious that you don’t see the focused point of view, and it’s good for Russia,” Zelensky explained.

And changing the world’s attention is not the only thing that President Vladimir Putin tried to exploit, Zelenskiy pointed out.

It was no surprise to him when the Russian leader pointed the finger at Ukraine, claiming that it somehow supported the terrorist attack near Moscow that killed 140 people on March 22. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the carnage, and US officials say they have seen nothing to cast doubt on that claim. Zelensky dismisses Putin’s insinuations as “ridiculous”.

“He doesn’t care if it’s a terrorist act, an economic act, the oil industry or any of these spheres,” Zelensky said, accusing the Russian leader of “using this to gain loyalty the more society. Even what happened in Moscow, with so many victims and wounded, he uses all this only for the sole purpose of justifying the fact that Ukraine does not exist,” says Zelensky.

Follow us on Google News