The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has come out to reveal the real aim of Russia’s attack on the European country.
According to him, Russia’s President Vladmir Putin wants to erase the history and people of Ukraine. The Ukrainian President passed this message in a video after several days of Russia’s invasion of his country.
Last Tuesday, The Kremlin struck on Ukrainian cities as its troops moved towards seizing the capital Kyiv. So far, the West has placed several sanctions on Russia, but that has not deterred the ambitions of Putin which Zelenskiy has claimed is to erase the nation which was part of the former USSR.
Volodymyr Zelensky has also called for more help from the West and the international community, including backing his country’s request to join the European Union (EU).
Defiant Zelensky who is reportedly living in a bunker stated that Russia knows nothing about Ukraine’s “history” yet are adamant on destroying the smaller country. Putin would disagree as he wrote a long essay in 2021 describing how both countries are “one.”
While the international community and the Press anticipated the upheaval between both countries, Putin constantly denied the intention to invade Ukraine for several months.
In a TV address on February 24, however, President Putin made it known that his country wasn’t “safe” and that its “existence” was in jeopardy as Ukraine constantly sought to join the EU and NATO.
Immediately following Putin’s televised remarks, Ukraine’s military headquarters and airports were attacked and under siege. Then, tanks and ammunitions rolled in from Russia and its allies including Belarus.
Russian leaders have refused to admit that this is an invasion. They have switched to the narrative that they are trying to protect their own people in Ukraine who are under threat. Putin even claimed that he is trying to “protect” his people who are subject to “genocide and neo-Nazi” in Ukraine.
On the other hand, there has been no genocide in Ukraine nor any form of neo-Nazi as Ukraine is a democracy led by a Jewish president. Ukraine’s leaders have so far rejected the slur.
Putin has repeatedly accused Ukraine of being a puppet to extremists and a gateway to Russia from the West. Since Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s pro-Russia former president was ousted in 2014, Putin has exerted pressure on the country.
Russia has since retaliated by occupying the southern region of Crimea, in the process backing separatists who have fought Ukrainians in a war that has seen 14,000 people dead.
In the fall on 2021, The Kremlin started deploying a large number of troops toward the borders of Ukraine while its leader, Putin kept denying that his country would strike.
Following the actions of Russia in the past days, it is now very clear that the country’s grand ambition is to seize Ukrainian cities and to overthrow its pro-democracy government. The Ukrainian president has said that he has been warned that he is “target number one” and his family “target number two.”
The false narrative that Russian media has spread is that it wants Ukraine to be freed from being a puppet to the West. Russia claims that Ukraine is being run by a fascist government since 2014. Putin has also claimed that he will bring to court Ukrainians who have committed serious “crimes against civilians.”
The Russian president has previously denied and continues to deny that he wants to occupy the neighboring country with plans to install a pro-Russia president who will yield to all of Russia’s requests. Some reports say that he aims to split Ukraine into two and expand the region Russia controls.
Whatsoever his aims are, Russia faces still resistance from the EU and the rest of the world as sanctions keep coming like rain. Putin, nonetheless, isn’t deterred as he keeps bombing civilian areas in a desire to fulfill his publicly unknown goals.
This is not just a terrifying period for Ukrainians, it is also a terrible time for the world. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Ukraine for bordering countries. More than 200,000 people have left for Romania alone. Others have left for Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova. These countries are seeing a huge influx of Ukrainians. The EU has suggested that the number of displaced people could reach seven million people.
Vladimir Putin has put his nuclear forces on high priority having threatened the West with “consequences like nothing you have ever seen if it tries to be on Ukraine’s side.
That hasn’t stopped the West from cutting off financial services, transportation and energy from Russia.
For European leaders, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought a “turning point in the history of the continent” as French President Emmanuel Macron said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has cautioned that Putin wants to build a “Russian empire.”
NATO has made it clear that it will not be sending troops to Ukraine, but it has surrounded some of the Ukrainian borders. The EU is on its first mission of acquiring arms and sending them to Ukraine. NATO, to its own credit, has deployed troops to Poland and the Baltic states. It could also deploy forces to Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary.
Russia has also been banned by some sports organizations. For instance, St Petersburg will not be the host to this year’s UEFA Champions League, and the Russian Grand Prix will also not hold in Sochi. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has equally banned Russian athletes from competing in Beijing.
At the moment, there seems to be very little chance for diplomacy although both sides have held discussions. Russia insists on the demilitarization of Ukraine which is unlikely to happen. Russia also wants all US nuclear arms limited to its national territories.
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