According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Moscow’s goals go far beyond Ukraine.
“The ultimate goal of the Russian leadership is not just the conquest of Ukraine, but the destruction of all of central and eastern Europe,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message, posted on Telegram late on Wednesday. A “global strike against democracy” is also part of the objective.
In the “free world” there is hardly anyone who has not understood that Russia’s war against Ukraine is just the beginning, Zelensky said. Continued attacks on Ukraine, for example in the Odessa region in the south of the country or the Donbass in the east, Zelenskyy continued, would bring Russia “only new casualties”. This would result in a new package of EU sanctions or more trade restrictions. Most Russians will have to pay with poverty for the government’s aggressive policies.
Don’t be afraid of troops in Transnistria
As Zelenskyi emphasized in a meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Kiev, the Ukrainian military is not afraid of Russian troops stationed in Transnistria. This is reported by the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. “As for the Russian troops who have been constantly in the temporarily occupied territory of Moldova, namely Transnistria, for many, many years, we know that they are on constant alert and waiting for an order. the forces are ready and they are not afraid of them,” he said. Zelensky.
According to Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, the war could drag on for many months. The weapons newly received by Ukraine could have “serious effects” on fighting in late May or early June, Arestovych said in a YouTube interview published late on Tuesday, as reported by Ukrainian news agency Unian. The war itself could last until the end of the year.
“We have to be prepared for a long story,” Arestovych said. If, after the current offensive, active combat operations in Donbass are stopped and positions are taken, this will in no way mean the end of the war.