Zelenskyy shows impact of Russian strikes on Ukraine
Zelenskyy says he wants to prompt leaders to “ask yourselves, are you ready not only for the challenges that Russian aggression brings, the challenges of modern war, but also for the constant effort to convince the world to fight for support to defend your country’s interests every single day as Ukraine must do.”
He then references continuing Russian ballistic and drone attacks on Ukraine.
As he talks about it, he has lots of visualisations and images shown on the screens behind him – including of some strikes that took place during his stay in Munich.
“I want you to understand the real scale of these attacks on Ukraine.
As you can see, in just one month this January, we had … to defend against 6000 attack drones, most of them were Shahid drones, and 150 plus Russian missiles of different types, and more than 5000 glide bombs.
And it’s like these every month. Imagine this over your own city. Shattered streets, destroyed homes, schools built underground.
And this is daily life in Ukraine because of Russia.”
He then talks about the devastating impact of these strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and praises the repair and rescue teams working on this emergency.
Key events
‘Illusion’ to think dividing Ukraine could prevent further war, Zelenskyy warns, drawing comparisons to 1938 Munich agreement
‘We can stand up to Russia,’ Zelenskyy urges leaders
‘None of our people chose to be heroes,’ Zelenskyy says
Russia loses 156 soldiers per kilometer of Ukraine, Zelenskyy says, as he takes swipe at Hungary’s Orbán
‘Our unity is best interceptor against Russia’s aggressive plans,’ Zelenskyy says
Iranian regime ‘must be stopped immediately,’ Zelenskyy says
Risk we face evolve and get worse as war goes on, Zelenskyy warns
Zelenskyy shows impact of Russian strikes on Ukraine
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Morning opening: What will the US say?
US Republican senator Roger F. Wicker says “what we need specifically is we need to unleash the Tomahawk missiles” on Russia.
“That’s a message that will come from the Congress, [but] it’s the decision of the administration,” he says.
He also urges further sanctions on Russian oil producers.
He says the US public opinion is increasingly supportive of Ukraine, including among Republican voters.
European parliament’s president Roberta Metsola says she will sign off the EU’s €90bn loan to Ukraine next week, which she says was agreed “at an unprecedented speed.”
She highlights extraordinary levels of solidarity with Ukraine, as demonstrated by loud cheers for Ukrainian athletes during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games earlier this month.
She says the EU continues to work on its response, working on the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, too.
And she declares her support for Ukraine’s membership of the EU (which continues to be blocked by Hungary, in particular.)
Nato’s Mark Rutte is speaking next, talking about his experience of visiting Ukraine last week as the country had to respond to extreme temperatures amid continued Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure.
He says the Ukrainians he met told him they would never give in to Russian attacks.
He then stresses that “to stay strong in this fight, we have to realise the Russians are not winning this,” as they make “very small gains,” “so small that it’s almost not relevant.”
He says the allies need to make sure the Ukrainians have everything they need to continue the fight and defend not just the frontlines, but its cities and civilians.
Asked about his wishlist, Zelenskyy says he needs more help with energy infrastructure, more missiles, and references a path to the membership of the EU, too.
Zelenskyy says the key focus in peace talks is on making sure so that “in four years, the civilised world is not forced to justify itself again, to shift the responsibility, and not forced again to look for someone else to blame” for another war.
He says “Ukraine is ready for a deal that brings real peace to us, Ukraine and Europe.”
And we go into the Q&A.
‘Illusion’ to think dividing Ukraine could prevent further war, Zelenskyy warns, drawing comparisons to 1938 Munich agreement
Zelenskyy turns to next week’s talks in Geneva.
He says he hopes they will be “serious, substantive, helpful,” but adds that “sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things.”
He says that the Russians “often speak about some spirit of Anchorage, and we can only guess what they really mean” – a reference to Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska – while “the Americans often return to the topic of concessions, too often discussed in the context of Ukraine, not Russia.”
He also says that Europe is “practically not” present at the table, and it should be. “It’s a big mistake,” he says.
He warns that Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s actions remind him of the 1938 Munich Agreement, “when previous Putin began dividing Europe.”
“It would be an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine, just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a great war,” he says.
‘We can stand up to Russia,’ Zelenskyy urges leaders
Zelenskyy also calls out former officials and politicians who are now trying to shift responsibility for not acting to prevent the war.
He stresses that “we can stand up to Russia,” bringing up the example of a Ukrainian athlete disqualified from the Olympics for planning to wear a helmet showing the face of Ukrainian athletes killed in the war.
He repeats that Russia “must not be given any hope it can get away with this crime.”
He says Moscow was most serious about negotiations when Ukraine when it was hit by Ukrainian deep strikes inside its territory.
“The stronger we are, the more realistic peace becomes,” he says.
Zelenskyy says that Ukraine tried everything to prevent the war, but he didn’t get any serious help from the previous US administration to counter the Russian aggression.
“But the most practical advice General [Mark] Milley could give Ukraine at that time was simply dig trenches, and that is the answer my commander in chief brought back.
Just imagine, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops on your borders, massive military equipment, and all you hear is: dig trenches.
So if Russian troops enter Lithuania, God bless, just [as an] example, if or another country on Nato’ss eastern flank, what will the Allies hear then? Will they hear that help is on the way?
Hope so.”
But he says Europe needs to have its own ability to respond to any threat to send a clear signal as he backs call for more defence investment.
He also says that Ukraine has “the strongest army in Europe,” and “that’s why Europe needs Ukraine.”
“I think it’s simply not smart to keep this army outside Nato,” he says, “but at least let that be your decision, not Putin’s decision.”
‘None of our people chose to be heroes,’ Zelenskyy says
In a moving tribute to ordinary Ukrainians, Zelenskyy says “none of our people chose to be such heroes” as they worry about the war.
But he warns that Putin “is no longer interested in anything else” than the war, as “he cannot imagine life without power or after power.”
“Putin consults more with Tsar Peter and Empress Catherine about territorial gains than with any living person about real life. Can you imagine Putin without war?,” he asks.
He warns that Putin “may see himself as a tsar, but he is a slave to this war,” which is why Ukraine needs strong security guarantees.
The guarantees should answer the main question “how long there will be no war again,” as he says he hopes Trump and the US Congress hear that point clearly.
Russia loses 156 soldiers per kilometer of Ukraine, Zelenskyy says, as he takes swipe at Hungary’s Orbán
Zelenskyy says that in both December and January, Ukrainian forces killed and badly wounded more than 30,000 to 35,000 Russian troops.
He says that at the moment, Russia pays with lives of 156 soldiers for every kilometer of Ukraine it secures.
“Putin is not concerned about this now, but there is a level at which he will start to care,” he says.
He says Ukraine aims to get to 50,000 kills a month to raise the price of continuing the war.
He says that Ukrainians are key to stop Russian aggression as they secure free and independent Poland, the Baltics, Moldova, and Romania.
In an angry swipe at Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, with whom he’s been publicly clashing in recent weeks, he says:
“Even one Viktor can think about how to grow his belly, not how to grow his army to stop Russian tanks from returning to the streets of Budapest.”
‘Our unity is best interceptor against Russia’s aggressive plans,’ Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy goes back to drones, saying Ukraine has “more experience than anyone in the world” on how to defend about them.
He says:
“That is why while we invest in interceptors and protection, Russia invests in breaking unity between all of us, our unity with you, unity in Europe, unity in the Euro-Atlantic community, they want to break it.
Why? Because our unity is the best interceptor against Russia’s aggressive plans – the best one – and we still have it.”
He names several countries, thanking them for their help: Denmark, Germany, Czechia, the Nordics, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, the US, Canada, Turkey and Japan.
But he says Russia also has its “accomplices”, including North Korea and Chinese companies that provide components for Russian weapons and missiles.
He also talks about the importance of stopping the Russian shadow fleet to further cut Moscow off funding for its war.
Iranian regime ‘must be stopped immediately,’ Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy turns to the situation in Iran, as he picks up on demonstrations in Munich calling for a change of regime there (covered on the blog yesterday).
He says that Ukraine has no border with Iran or conflict with the Iranian regime, but points out that they continue to sell drones to Russia that kill Ukrainians.
“The Iranian regime has already done and can still do more harm than many other regimes could do in the century. … When they have time, they only kill more. They must be stopped immediately,” he says.
