Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that the Russian invasion “is coming to an end” but that his country will not reduce “defense efforts.”
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, He said on Tuesday that on the 34th the Russian invasion “is coming to an end”, but that his country will not reduce “defense efforts”, after Russia announced that it will “reduce hostilities in kyiv and Chenikov”.
“Yes, we can qualify the signals we heard from the trading platform as positive. But these signals do not drown out the ruptures of the Russian shells, ”Zelensky stated in his usual late-day message posted on the Ukrainian presidency website.
“The 34th day of the full-scale invasion of Russia and our full-scale defense is coming to an end,” Zelensky said.
The Russian Army began today the withdrawal of part of its troops from the surroundings of kyiv and the besieged northern city of Chernigov to focus on the conquest of Donbasthe primary objective of the current Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
“The Russian enemy is carrying out the withdrawal of individual units from the territories of the kyiv and Chernigov regions,” reported the General Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its last midday military report.
However, Zelensky said that “vigilance must not be lost. The situation has not gotten any easier (…) The Russian military still has significant potential to continue attacks against our state.”
For this reason, he warned that “we will not reduce our defense efforts. Both in the north of our state and in all other regions of Ukraine (…) The defense of Ukraine is the number one task now, and everything else follows from it.”
Zelensky recalled that the bombing of cities “continues. Mariupol is blocked. The air and missile attacks do not stop. This is the reality”.
He mentioned that this Tuesday in Mikolaiv the rescue operation was carried out, The blockades of the regional administration building were dismantled, which was destroyed by the Russian missile attacks, which so far caused twelve deaths and 34 wounded.
That Russian attack was carried out according to Zelensky “in a very insidious way”, when people were getting work in the morning.
For this reason, he insisted, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the intelligence services and all those who have joined the defense “are today the only guarantee of our survival, as a people as a State.”
Regarding the ongoing negotiations with Russia, he said that “we see no reason to trust the words of certain representatives of a state that continues to fight for our destruction.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin today recognized “progress” in the negotiations with Ukraine, in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macronwhile remaining inflexible about his will to continue with the offensive in the east of that country, according to Elysee sources.
This withdrawal occurred hours before the Russian negotiators in Istanbul announced the decision to “reduce military activity” in both regions in order to contribute to the signing of a peace agreement with kyiv.
Zelensky said Ukraine will continue the negotiation process, reiterating that there must be “real security” for his country and its sovereignty.
“Russian troops must leave the occupied territories. Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be guaranteed. There can be no compromise on sovereignty and our territorial integrity. And there won’t be,” insisted the Ukrainian president.
Any decision that is important “should not be made by a person or a group of people with political opinions, but by all our people. The wise men of Ukraine”, he added.
In addition, he urged that the rest of the countries not expect certain negotiations to affect the lifting of sanctions against the Russian Federation.
“The issue of sanctions cannot even be raised until the war is over, until we get our own back, and until we restore justice,” he affirmed, and stressed that, on the contrary, it is necessary to intensify them “weekly. And they must be of high quality.”
He mentioned that a team of Ukrainian and international experts has already started work to assess the effectiveness of the sanctions imposed on Russia.
On the Ukrainian side, this area is coordinated by the head of the Office of the President, Andriy Yermak, and on the international side, by Michael McFaul.