UA
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DEPresident of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the NATO summit in Madrid. The Head of State stressed that Russia would not stop in Ukraine, and the North Atlantic Alliance members could become the next targets. He also called for more modern weapons to be provided to Ukraine to “break Russia’s tactics to destroy cities and terrorise the civilian population.”
“Russia’s goals are known. They are obvious. The Russian leadership sees the world differently. Not like you. They see Lithuania, for example, not as a member of your Alliance, but as a republic of the Soviet Union… For us, it is the past, and they see it as a possible future; they want to enslave it again. They consider it that way. They see it that way. And the same goes for every country that is Russia’s neighbour. For every state that was once under Moscow’s influence,” the President noted.
He considers that Russia does not want to stop in Donbas or somewhere in the south of Ukraine. It wants to absorb all the territories in Europe, which the Russian leadership considers its property, so the next goals could be Moldova, the Baltic states, and Poland.
“While democracies were calling on the Russian leadership to have reason and morality, Russia was accumulating power and missiles. You, the democratic leaders, have urged it to respect international law, but tyrants understand force. And force only! And this is clearly seen in those areas of Ukraine where the Russian army has been severely rebuffed,” Zelensky said.
According to the President, Ukraine’s goals are fully in line with NATO’s goals: we are interested in security and stability on the European continent and around the world, so that “the lives of nations are determined not by the infamous Munich speech of one leader, but by international law.”
“Helping Ukraine end this war by winning on the battlefield now – that is, giving a really strong answer to what Russia is doing – is what we and each of your states and the whole Alliance, the whole Euro-Atlantic community need. If you really identify Russia as your threat, your main threat, you must fully support its main – the first – target. This is not a war of Russia only against Ukraine; this is a war for the right to dictate conditions in Europe, for what the future world order will be like,” the Head of State said.
Ukraine, he noted, needs modern missile and air defence systems, which the NATO members have. Moreover, the Ukrainian soldiers need much more modern artillery systems. In addition, Ukraine needs financial support for defence and protection.
“Just think about one fact now: today, a non-NATO country, albeit with your support, has been holding back a state that you all officially identify as your main threat for more than four months. We are deterring Russia from destroying us and from destroying you,” Zelensky stressed.
He added that Russia must be isolated; it should not be in those international structures it wants to destroy. There should be no dialogues that don’t make sense until it starts looking for that dialogue itself.
Meanwhile, Ukraine needs security guarantees, and NATO has to find a place for Ukraine in the common security space.
“There will be either urgent help for Ukraine, which is enough to win, or Russia’s postponed war with you,” the Head of State summed up.
Bohdan Marusyak
