“Ukrainians are not naive”
Selenskyj does not trust signals from Russia
3/30/2022 5:13 am
Russia announces a partial withdrawal of its troops from Kyiv, allegedly as a confidence-building measure in negotiations with Ukraine. Its President Zelenskyj praises the positive signals. At the same time, he sees no reason to trust Russia. Their own armed forces are the only guarantee of survival.
Despite the slight progress in negotiations with Russia to end the war, the Ukrainian President sees the continued defense of his country as a priority. The positive signals did not drown out the explosions of Russian shells, said President Volodymr Zelenskyj on Tuesday evening on announcements by the Russian military to reduce pressure on the capital Kyiv. “The defense of Ukraine is our number one task, everything else is derived from it,” emphasized Zelenskyy in his daily video address. Only on this basis can negotiations with Russia continue.
“The enemy is still on our territory,” Zelenskyy said. The reality is that Ukrainian cities will continue to be besieged and shelled. Therefore, the Ukrainian armed forces are “the only guarantee of our survival”. This is a “working guarantee”.
The Ukrainian side sees no reason to believe the words of the representatives of the state who are still working on the destruction of Ukraine. “Ukrainians are not naive,” Zelensky said. “The Russian army still has great potential to continue attacks on our state.” That is why Ukraine will not reduce its defense efforts.
There should also be no lifting of sanctions against Russia, Zelenskyy said. This “can only be considered when the war is over and we get back what is ours”. Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and the USA have announced that they intend to maintain sanctions pressure against Russia.
People in the West are skeptical
Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin had previously announced after the talks that “in order to strengthen confidence” the “radical” reduction in Russia’s military activities near Kyiv and Chernihiv in the north of the country had been decided. The Ukrainian side said in Istanbul that after the negotiations a meeting of the heads of state from both sides now seems possible.
However, the US Department of Defense reacted to Russia’s announcement with great skepticism. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said only a “small number” of Russian soldiers had left Kyiv so far. This is not a “retreat” but a “repositioning” of the troops. British secret services see the Russian offensive on Kyiv as a failure. As the British Ministry of Defense announced in the eveningconsider it likely that Russia will withdraw forces from the north to deploy in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Melnyk speaks of “deceptive manoeuvres”
The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, speaks of a “deceptive manoeuvre” by Russia. “We believe that this ‘conciliatory’ rhetoric from Moscow is nothing more than bluff and smokescreen to distract from the Kremlin’s military embarrassment in Ukraine,” Melnyk told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Wednesday editions).
“On the other hand, Putin is also concerned with misleading the West – including Germany,” he said. It’s about feigning a desire for peace and fooling the West into believing that Ukraine can defend itself without support. “Russia will use this time to regroup its forces, send in new conscripts and secure logistical supplies.” According to Melnyk, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not given up on his main goal of “eliminating Ukrainian statehood and capturing or destroying Kyiv”.
He again spoke out in favor of tightening sanctions against Russia. “Above all, the moratorium on energy imports from Russia should be introduced immediately. The flow of money – around one billion euros a day – into Putin’s war chest must be drained to stop the bloodshed.”