Dhe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has compared his country’s fight against the aggressor Russia with the resistance against the Nazis in World War II. Like Nazism, Russia is pursuing the same goals. “The form of evil has changed, but the essence is unchanged,” Zelenskyj said in a video message. Russia has gone from being a neighbor to an aggressor and a terrorist – and is guilty of war crimes.
Standing next to a shot down combat drone, Zelenskyy said that peaceful cities were repeatedly being bombarded with bombs and rockets. In the past two days alone, there have been 30 Russian attacks with Iranian drones, 23 of which have been shot down. Russia mines or seizes power plants, steals crops to threaten the planet with hunger. It abducts people, including children.
Referring to the Second World War and the Ukrainians’ fight against the Nazis at the time, Zelenskyy said that “evil had risen from the ashes again after 80 years”. He lamented that since the war began on February 24, the aggressor Russia had fired 4,500 rockets at Ukraine and carried out a total of 8,000 airstrikes.
Zelenskyy emphasized that the Ukrainian resistance is strong. The country will not be broken. The head of state expressed confidence that the invader would capitulate and be put to flight. Russia will also pay reparations; and the occupied territories of Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea would be free again.
“Russia’s only tactic is terror,” said Zelenskyy. That can only lead to defeat. In view of the power cuts as a result of the destroyed energy infrastructure, he said that life without light is not dark, but rather without freedom. The Ukrainians would also survive the harsh winter. “We are not afraid of the dark,” Zelenskyj said.
Putin confirms readiness for negotiations
Meanwhile, after more than eight months of war against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his readiness for peace negotiations. However, under the influence of the United States, the government in Ukraine decided against such talks, Putin said at a Moscow discussion forum with international experts. At the end of September, the head of the Kremlin annexed four Ukrainian regions and also offered negotiations in a speech in the Kremlin. In Kyiv, Zelenskyy rejected talks with Putin by decree.
Referring to the raid he ordered on the country, Putin said Ukraine is fighting without regard for its soldiers and is suffering significantly higher casualties than Russia. Regarding the reasons for the war, he once again said that Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO were incompatible with Russian security interests. At the time, Ukraine also canceled a peace plan for the Donbass that had been agreed with Germany and France.
