the president of Ukraine , Volodymyr Zelensk said this Thursday (16) that the invasion of Russia aims to “break the country and destroy all of Europe through Ukraine”.
During a joint press conference in Kyiv with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz the French president, Emmanuel Macron Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis Zelensky told their colleagues that the Russian attack amounted to an attack on the whole of Europe:
“Russia wants to demonstrate that a united Europe is incapable of being effective and that European values do not work to protect freedom. We can and must break this scenario and prove to them that Europe will remain free, democratic and… united,” she suggested.
Zelensky said the best way to demonstrate “our common and strong position” is to support Ukraine’s integration into the European Union, adding that the country’s status as a candidate for EU membership “can historically expand freedom in Europe and become one of the group’s major European decisions in the first third of the 21st century.”
The Ukrainian president said the country is ready to become a member of the EU.
We understand that the path to the European Union is really a path and not a step. But this path must begin, and we are ready to work for our state to become a full member of the European Union. Ukrainians have already won the right to embark on this path, he argued.
He even urged leaders to give their country quick accession to the bloc through an abbreviated procedure to counter Russian aggression.
Zelensky said the total number of Russian missiles used against the civilian population in Ukraine “has already reached 3,000 this month”, adding that the sooner Ukraine receives more powerful weapons from the West, the faster it will be able to end Russian attacks. .
“Each batch of these supplies equals rescued Ukrainians. And every day of delaying or postponing decisions is a chance for the Russian military to kill civilians or destroy our cities. There is a direct connection: the more powerful weapons we have, the faster we can free our people and free our land.”
Ukraine’s prime minister vows to rebuild Ukraine
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi vowed to “rebuild everything” after visiting the Ukrainian city of Irpin, on the outskirts of the war-torn capital Kiev. “Let’s rebuild everything. They destroyed kindergartens, they destroyed children’s gardens. Everything will be rebuilt. They’ve already started that process,” Draghi said. During the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron confessed that he wants to see Ukraine regain control of the country. Crimea as part of a military victory against Russia.
Military aid to Ukraine is not provocation, says NATO secretary general
On NATO’s military aid to Ukraine, the organization’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg , claimed that the attitude is not “a provocation” to Russia, but rather a support for an independent state. When asked about statements from the Pope Francis earlier this week that the war in Ukraine “was perhaps somehow provoked or not avoided”, he replied that NATO is “a defensive alliance and the war is President Putin’s war”.
Source: CNN Brasil
