Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has called on US President Joe Biden to visit Ukraine and reiterated his reluctance to cede territory in the east of the country to end the war with Russia, during an extended interview with CNN on Sunday.
“I think he will,” Zelensky said in English when asked if he was aware of any plans to visit the president in the United States. “But that’s his decision, of course.” [it] depends on safety, of course. But I think he’s the leader of the United States, so he has to come here to see. “
Biden told reporters Thursday that the United States would soon decide whether to send a senior official to Ukraine in support, but sources suggested to Reuters that the administration was considering Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin or Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Zelensky’s comments came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid a surprise visit to Kyiv last weekend.
On Friday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an interview that Biden had no planned visit.
Speaking to a news channel on Friday in an interview broadcast on Sunday, Zelensky turned his attention to the impending Russian offensive in the eastern Donbass region, which is likely to become a brutal and decisive phase of the war after Russia’s retreat. from areas around Kyiv to the north.
Zelensky said Ukraine would not give up territory in the east of the country to end the war with Russia. “That is why it is very important for us not to allow them to defend their positions, because this battle … it can affect the course of the whole war,” Zelenski said. There are about 40,000 Ukrainian troops in the Donbass region, and he acknowledged that there are likely to be many battles spanning an unknown period.
“I do not trust the Russian military and the Russian leadership the fact that we fought with them and they left and fled from Kyiv, from the north, from Chernigov… this does not mean that if they succeed in capturing Donbass, they will not come more far to Kyiv, “Zelensky said.
Zelenski welcomed the $ 800 million in additional military aid approved by the White House last week, but called on the United States and its allies for more weapons and faster delivery.
“Of course we need more. “But I’m happy he’s helping us now,” Zelenski told CNN. “I feel we are having a cleaner dialogue right now. It was a dialogue that had some twists and turns. And not just to talk. It was very, very difficult because there are not many countries that have really helped us. “
The Ukrainian president also reiterated fears that Russian forces could deploy chemical or tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“It’s not just me, the whole world, all countries need to worry … because that’s it [use of nuclear weapons] it may not be true information, but it may be true. ”
“Chemical weapons, they can do it, for them, people’s lives, nothing. That’s why, “Zelenski said. “We have to think that we are not afraid, we are not afraid, but we are ready. But this is not a question of Ukraine, not only of Ukraine, but of the whole world, I think.
Zelensky estimated the number of dead Ukrainian servicemen at between 2,500 and 3,000, adding that about 10,000 more had been wounded so far “and it is difficult to say how many will survive.”
He claims that Russia has lost up to 20,000 troops, which has not been confirmed.
Add Comment