Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he was determined to push for peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world and renewed his plea for more guns ahead of an expected surge of fighting in the Land East.
He made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press a day after at least 52 people were killed in a strike at a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, and as evidence of civilian killings came to light after Russian troops failed to to seize the station capital, in which he settled, Kyiv.
“No one wants to deal with one or more people who have tortured this nation. It’s all understandable. And as a man, as a father, I understand that very well,” said Zelenskyy. But “we don’t want to miss opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution.”
Dressed in the olive drab dress that marked his transformation into a war leader, he looked exhausted but inspired with perseverance. He spoke to the AP inside the president’s office complex, where windows and hallways are protected by sandbag towers and heavily armed soldiers.
“We must fight, but fight for life. You can’t fight for dust when there’s nothing and no people. That is why it is important to end this war,” said Zelenskyy.
Russian troops, who have withdrawn from northern Ukraine, are now regrouping for an intensified push to retake the eastern Donbass region, including the besieged port city of Mariupol, which Ukrainian fighters are trying to defend.
The president said these defenders are tying down “a large part of the enemy forces” and currently called the battle for Mariupol “the heart of the war.”
“It hits. fought. We are strong. And when it stops beating, we’ll be in a weaker position,” he said.
Zelenskyi said he was confident that Ukrainians would accept peace despite the horrors they have endured in more than six weeks of war.
These included gruesome images of civilian bodies found in courtyards, parks and town squares and buried in mass graves in the Kiev suburb of Bucha after Russian troops withdrew. Ukrainian and Western leaders have accused Moscow of war crimes.
Russia has falsely claimed that the scenes in Bucha were staged. It also blamed Ukraine for the attack on the Kramatorsk train station as thousands of people rushed to flee an expected Russian offensive.
Despite hopes for peace, Zelenskyy conceded that he had to be “realistic” about the prospects of a quick solution, as negotiations had so far been limited to low-level talks, which Russian President Vladimir Putin did not participate in.
When asked whether the shipments of arms and other equipment his country received from the United States and other Western nations were enough to turn the tide of the war, Zelenskyy expressed palpable resignation and frustration.
“Not yet,” he said, switching to English for emphasis. “Of course it’s not enough.”
Still, he noted that support from Europe had increased and that US arms shipments were being accelerated.
Just this week, neighboring Slovakia, a member of the European Union, donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine in response to Zelenskyy’s appeal to help “close the skies to Russian fighter jets and missiles.”
Part of this support came through visits by European leaders.
After meeting Zelenskyy in Kyiv earlier Saturday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he expected more EU sanctions against Russia, although he defended his country’s opposition to the halt to Russian gas supplies.
The US, EU and UK responded to the Bucha images with further sanctions, including against Putin’s adult daughters. While the EU stalked Russia’s energy sector with a coal ban for the first time, it has so far failed to agree on cutting off the much more lucrative oil and natural gas that funds Putin’s war chest. Europe depends on these supplies to generate electricity, fill fuel tanks and keep industries running.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also paid an unannounced visit to Zelenskyy. His office said they had discussed Britain’s “long-term support”.
On Friday in Kyiv, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the Ukrainian head of state with a questionnaire that represents the first step in applying for EU membership. The head of the bloc’s executive branch said completing the questionnaire could take weeks — an unusually quick turnaround time — although securing membership would take much longer.
Zelenskyi became thoughtful when asked how the pace of arms shipments had affected his people, and whether more lives could have been saved if aid had come sooner.
“Very often we look for answers in someone else, but I often look for answers in myself. Have we done enough to get them?” he said of the guns. “Have we done enough to make these leaders believe in us? Have we done enough?”
He stopped and shook his head.
“Are we the best for this place and time? Who knows? I do not know. You’re questioning yourself,” he said.
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AP photographer Evgeniy Maloletka contributed to this story.