Conversation with Austria’s Chancellor
Nehammer: Selenskyj fears for his life
02/24/2022 3:21 p.m
After the Russian attack has started, the Austrian head of government speaks with the Ukrainian president. What Nehammer says about the short conversation is dramatic. Selenskyj fears for the continued existence of Ukraine as a state. He also doesn’t know how long he will live.
According to Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fears for his life. Nehammer reported on a dramatic phone call with Selenskyj: “The Ukrainian president began with the words, he is reporting from a country where he no longer knows how long it has existed, and he is reporting as president without knowing how long he’s still alive.”
Selenskyi “immediately informed us that there was heavy fighting in Ukraine,” said Nehammer at a joint press conference with Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder. There are many injured and dead. The Ukrainian President “is asking Europe and the world for help and fears for his country’s existence,” Nehammer said.
Nehammer accuses Russia of violating international law. Moscow does not claim the strength of the law, but the law of the strongest. As a neutral country within the European Union, Austria deeply rejects this, said the Federal Chancellor.
The Austrian Chancellor announced tough punitive measures against Russia: “At today’s special summit of EU heads of state and government, we will impose additional tough sanctions on Russia and agree on further support for Ukraine.” However, the thread of the conversation should not be lost. “In a time of death – and that is war – unfortunately the weapons speak more than the diplomats. That has to be reversed,” said the Chancellor.
Together with Söder, Nehammer stated that they wanted to help any Ukrainian refugees. “We will stand by the countries that are directly affected,” he said, referring to possible refugee movements to neighboring countries such as Poland. The people who sought protection should be helped in a neighborly manner.