Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again called on the international community to supply heavy weapons. In both a video conference with Polish head of state Andrzej Duda on Saturday and a video message broadcast on Sunday night, he called for fighter planes and tanks for the Ukrainian armed forces. “Ukraine cannot shoot down Russian missiles with rifles and machine guns,” he said.
And the highly contested port city of Mariupol, for example, could not be liberated without sufficient stockpiles of tanks, heavy equipment and aircraft. Earlier, Zelenskyj had again asked his Polish colleague Duda for heavy weapons. He warned that without providing the Ukrainian armed forces with fighter jets and tanks, the Russian military could pose a subsequent threat to NATO’s neighboring countries.
“If Ukraine’s partners do not help Ukraine with planes and tanks, and they have these opportunities, then there is a high risk that the Russian army poses a missile threat not only to the territories of our neighbors – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary , Romania and the Baltic States – but also a direct general military threat,” Zelenskyy said on Saturday, according to the Ukrainian president’s official website.
Some time ago, Poland suggested a possible indirect transfer of its Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian armed forces. In order not to deliver the jets directly to Ukraine, the aircraft must first be delivered to the US military. This move was rejected by the United States. Such a move could lead to a direct confrontation between NATO forces and the Russian military, which could lead to an escalation of the war, the reasoning said.
With its war directed against the civilian population, Zelenskyj believes that Russia is doing everything to “de-Russify” Ukraine. “Where the Russians have always been part of everyday life alongside the Ukrainians, in the east of our country, where they (the Russians) are turning peaceful cities into ruins, Russia is doing everything possible to de-Russify our territory,” Zelenskyy said. .
This “de-Russianization” is happening “for this generation and forever,” Zelenskyy added on Saturday night, according to Ukrajinska Pravda. “This is another manifestation of their suicidal policy.”
In Soviet times, Russian was the dominant language in Ukraine. With the so-called Orange Revolution in 2004, Ukrainians remembered their own language, which differs significantly from Russian.
Twelve journalists have died in Ukraine since the start of the war a month ago. Another 10 reporters were injured during the fighting, some seriously, Attorney General Iryna Venediktova said Saturday night on her Facebook page. “Telling the world the truth about Putin’s aggression is deadly – 12 journalists have died in the war,” she wrote. According to her reading, the reporters were killed by the Russian military. This information could not be independently verified.
According to investigations so far, at least 56 media representatives were attacked, including 15 foreigners. According to Venediktova, among the foreigners were Britons, Czechs, Danes, Americans, Swiss and citizens of the United Arab Emirates. An American, an Irishman and a Russian journalist were killed.