The Economist interviews Zelensky and depicts him as a more serious, even angry, a departure from his earlier lightness and humor
But the main insight of the interview is Zelensky's strategy to win the war through isolation of Crimea 1/
But the main insight of the interview is Zelensky's strategy to win the war through isolation of Crimea 1/
Zelensky makes several other blunt points:
1. “The West has lost a sense of urgency and many Ukrainians have lost a sense of existential threat” 2/
1. “The West has lost a sense of urgency and many Ukrainians have lost a sense of existential threat” 2/
“Maybe we did not succeed [in 2023] as the world wanted. Maybe not everything is as fast as someone imagined,”he says, but the idea that Mr Putin is winning is no more than a “feeling” 3/
Context: British defence intelligence sources estimate that, on current trends, Russia will have suffered more than 500,000 casualties, killed and wounded, by 2025. 4/
2. Putin’s army failed to take a single large city in 2023, whereas Ukraine managed to break through Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea and is now shipping millions of tonnes of grain using a new route that hugs Ukraine’s southern coast. 5/
https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/1741903020839891427?s=20
3. “Giving us money or giving us weapons, you support yourself. You save your children, not ours,”
He expands: 6/
He expands: 6/
If Russia is allowed to take Ukrainian children, “they will take other children”. If Russia violates the rights of Ukrainians, “it will violate the rights in the world”. If Ukraine loses, Mr Putin will bring his wars closer to the West. 7/
4. European countries should be lobbying America to support Ukraine for their own sake. 8/
He justifies this by saying that the threat is real and that “Intelligence services of several European countries have started to [examine] a possibility of attack on their territory from Russia... Even those countries that were not in the ussr.” 9/
5. Negotiations and peace. Zelensky does not detect “any fundamental steps forward to the peace from Russia”. What he and Ukrainians experience instead is a barrage of aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities in the east, south, north and west. 10/
On Russia speaking peace and ceasefire, he says "they don’t have enough missiles, ammunition, or prepared troops. They need this pause. Restore all their strength. And then with all their strength, turn the page of this war.” 11/
6. Crimea and the connected battle in the Black Sea will become the war’s centre of gravity. Isolating Crimea and degrading Russia’s military capabilities there “is the way for us to reduce the number of attacks from that region” 12/
It would also have a big effect inside Russia. British officials say that a fifth of that fleet has been destroyed in the past four months alone. Losing naval bases that Russia has held for the past 240 years would be a huge embarrassment for Mr Putin. 13/
Zelensky says that the speed of any success will depend on the military assistance he gets from Western partners.He has asked for the Taurus, a German-made, long-range stealth cruise missile with the ability to explode deep inside a target. 14/
This could enable Ukraine to destroy the $4bn Kerch bridge, in effect isolating the Crimean peninsula from Russia. 15/
7. On political infighting. “Mobilisation is not just a matter of soldiers going to the front. It is the mobilisation of all efforts. This is the only way to protect our state and de-occupy our land. Let’s be honest, we have switched to domestic politics,” 16/
“If we continue to focus on domestic politics, we need to call elections. Change the law, the constitution. But forget about counter-offensive actions and de-occupation.” 17/
8. What Ukrainians and the world should do. “The most important profession a Ukrainian can do at the moment is to be in Ukraine…and for our Western partners, it is to be with Ukraine…If you don’t have the strength, then either get out or step aside. We will not retreat.” 18/
The interview conveys the mood in Ukraine quite well. It is a sense of determination to fight and the realization of the sacrifices required to survive as a country. It is a laser focused effort on the war and annoyance with those who don't see the gravity of the situation 19/
Zelensky will go on to mobilize the society for the all-out defense effort. We are already seeing some of this: an intention to seriously strengthen tax collection to improve the budget situation, a mobilization draft for 500K people. I hope the allies deliver too X
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