Interview with Zelensky: “We are not against the end of the war, but we want a fair end”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP in an exclusive interview he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned Kyiv only has a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line. Russian forces, which had made only moderate advances in recent months, launched an assault in the Kharkiv region on 10 May that has brought them their biggest territorial gains in a year-and-a-half. Zelensky also urged China and countries of the Global South to participate in a peace summit in Switzerland next month and acknowledged his army needed more men to boost the forces' morale.
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00:00 We are not against the truce, we are not against the end of the war, but we are for a just end of the war.
00:08 And we are against any truce that is played by the enemy.
00:16 That's what we are against. Do you understand why? I just don't want to let them take over our territory.
00:24 I am very grateful to you. I really appreciate it.
00:27 Hi.
00:28 Yes, they want it. They want to attack. They understand that Kharkiv is very difficult, it is a big city.
00:43 And they understand that we have forces that will fight for a long time. They need to throw big forces for this.
00:56 Therefore, for them, it is most important to withdraw our troops as much as possible.
01:03 That is, for today, we have 7 minimum systems. Plus, I will not say what we have.
01:13 Therefore, we have somewhere around 25% of what is needed to protect Ukraine.
01:31 This is the PPO, I am talking about the PPO. As for the possibilities, they can shoot any weapon from their territory at ours.
01:46 This is the biggest advantage in Russia. We cannot do anything to their systems that are on the territory of Russia with Western weapons.
01:59 We do not have the right to do this.
02:01 We need to complete the reserves. This is a serious number of existing brigades.
02:09 A large number of them are empty. We need to do this so that the guys have normal rotation.
02:20 Then the moral state will be improved. Then it is a question of their physical strength and justice.
02:29 For this, we need to have the reserves prepared.
02:42 Let's imagine that there is a truce. First, we do not trust Putin.
02:59 Second, he will not lead the troops. Third, imagine that there is an Olympic truce in two weeks and everyone is standing still.
03:16 Who can say that Russia will not use this time to pull its forces to our territory?
03:32 We are not standing on the border. People cannot stand there because there will be no people.
03:39 There were losses and this is understandable. The first year of the war, or maybe not the second half, but the second part.
03:48 At least I would like to see it. That's why I would like to invite China to the peace summit.
03:55 Why is it so important for global players to work on involving them?
04:06 Because they have an impact. Any country. Some are defense, some are arms, some are economy.
04:15 They have an impact on Russia. The more such countries are on our side, on the side of the end of the war, I would say, the more Russia will have to move and count.
04:29 We are in such a non-sense when the West is afraid that Russia will lose the war and does not want Ukraine to lose it.
04:45 Because the final victory of Ukraine will lead to the defeat of Russia. And the final victory of Russia will lead to the defeat of Ukraine.
04:59 And now we are in such a moment and such a challenge for everyone.
05:07 Thank you.
05:09 Thank you.
05:11 Good luck.
05:15 Thank you. Good luck.
05:17 Good luck. Bye-bye.
05:19 [Music]
05:25 (upbeat music)