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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says world order is at stake in Ukraine war.
“If Ukraine falls, what will happen in ten years? Think about it. If (the Russians) come to Poland, what’s next? A Third World War?” Zelenskyy told Scott Pelley in a 60 minute interview which aired on Sunday. “We are defending the values of the whole world. And these are the Ukrainians who are paying the highest price. We are really fighting for our freedom, we are dying. We are not fiction, we are not a book. We are really fighting with a nuclear state that threatens to destroy the world.”
Zelenskyy on US financing of Ukraine against Russia
Citing the roughly $70 billion the United States has contributed to Ukraine’s war effort, Pelley asked Zelenskyy if he expected that level of support to continue.
“The United States of America is supporting Ukraine financially and I am grateful for that,” Zelenskyy said. “I just think they are not supporting only Ukraine. If Ukraine falls, Putin will surely go further. What will the United States of America do when Putin reaches the Baltic states? When he reaches the Polish border? He will. This is a lot of money. We have a lot of gratitude. What more should Ukraine do so that everyone can measure our enormous gratitude? We are dying in this war.”
“What will it take?” Pelley asked, “Another $70 billion?”
“I don’t have an answer,” Zelenskyy responded, “The whole world (You have to) decide if we want to stop Putin or if we want to start a world war. We cannot change Putin. Russian society has (lost) the respect of the world. They elected him and re-elected him and raised a second Hitler. They did this. We cannot go back in time. But we can stop it here.”
Zelenskyy on nuclear war threats and the 2024 US elections
Zelenskyy says Putin will use the threat of nuclear war to stoke instability in the United States and Europe.
“I think he will continue to threaten,” Zelenskyy said. “He is expecting the United States to become less stable. He believes that will happen during the American elections. He will look for instability in Europe and the United States of America. He will take advantage of the risk of using nuclear weapons to fuel that (instability). “He will continue to threaten.”
The uncertainty surrounding the upcoming US presidential election worries Zelenskyy. Although he says he has not received military aid quickly enough, he has appreciated President Biden’s support.
Zelenskyy on Ukraine’s slow counteroffensive and drone strikes in Russia
Zelenskyy admits progress has been made slow in the counteroffensive, but he says Ukrainian troops made up mostly of conscripts are advancing. The 700-mile front line has become an artillery duel with both the Russians and Ukrainians firing 40,000 shells a day. Drone warfare has also slowed progress.
“It’s a difficult situation. I’ll be completely honest with you. We have the initiative. This is an advantage,” Zelenskyy said. “We stopped the Russian offensive and moved on to a counteroffensive. And despite that, it is not very fast. It is important that we advance every day and liberate territory.”
“We need to liberate our territory as much as possible and move forward, even if it is less than (half a mile or) a hundred (yards), we must do so,” Zelenskyy continued. “We must not give Putin a break.”
Zelenskyy also commented on the drone attacks against Russia, which Ukraine It is not officially recognized.
“You know that we use our partners’ weapons only on the territory of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “And this is true, but these are not punitive missions, like the ones they carry out killing civilians. Russia needs to know that wherever it is, whatever place it uses to launch missiles to attack Ukraine, Ukraine has all the moral right to attack those places.” We respond by saying: ‘Your sky is not as well protected as you think.'”
With reference to the numerous non-military goals Russia has attacked, Pelley asked Zelenskyy what he thought Putin was trying to achieve by killing civilians.
“To break (us),” Zelenskyy said. “And by choosing civilian targets, Putin wanted to achieve exactly this: destroy us. You can’t trust this person who has made his way with such bloody actions, with everything he has said. You can’t trust a person like that because he does “For a long time he has not been a human being.”
Zelenskyy is scheduled to travel to the United States this week to address the United Nations General Assembly and visit the white house and Congress.
Scott Pelley
