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Selenskyj compares Russia to Nazis

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has likened his country’s struggle against the aggressor Russia to resisting the Nazis in World War II. Like Nazism, Russia pursues the same goals. “The form of evil has changed, but the essence is unchanged,” Zelenskyj said in a video message distributed Friday evening in Kiev. Russia has turned from neighbor to aggressor and terrorist – and is guilty of war crimes.

Zelenskyy stood next to a downed combat drone and said peaceful cities were repeatedly bombed with bombs and missiles. In the past two days alone, there have been 30 Russian strikes with Iranian drones, 23 of which have been shot down. Russia mines or seizes power plants, steals crops to threaten the planet with hunger. It kidnaps people, including children.

Referring to World War II and the Ukrainians’ struggle against the Nazis at the time, Zelenskyy said that “evil had risen from the ashes after 80 years”. He lamented that since the war started on February 24, the aggressor Russia had fired 4,500 missiles at Ukraine and carried out a total of 8,000 air strikes.

Zelenskyy stressed that the Ukrainian resistance is strong. The land will not be broken. The head of state expressed confidence that the intruder would capitulate and be put on the run. Russia will also pay reparations; and the occupied territories of Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea would be free again.

“Russia’s only tactic is terror,” Zelensky said. That can only lead to defeat. In view of the power cuts caused by the devastated energy infrastructure, he said life without light is not dark, but rather without freedom. The Ukrainians would also survive the harsh winter. “We are not afraid of the dark,” Zelenskyj said.

Putin confirms readiness for negotiations with Ukraine

Meanwhile, after more than eight months of war against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his readiness for peace negotiations. However, under the influence of the United States, the government in Ukraine decided against such talks, Putin said on Thursday at a discussion forum in Moscow with international experts. In late September, the Kremlin head annexed four Ukrainian regions and also offered negotiations in a speech at the Kremlin. In Kiev, Zelenskyy rejected talks with Putin by decree.

Referring to the raid he ordered on the land, Putin said Ukraine is fighting without regard for its soldiers and is suffering significantly more casualties than Russia. Regarding the reasons for the war, he reiterated that Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO are incompatible with Russian security interests. At the time, Ukraine also canceled a peace plan for the Donbass that had been agreed with Germany and France.

Putin made it clear that he also sees his war in the neighboring country as a struggle against an “aggressive West” that seeks to impose its rules and liberal values ​​on others. The “tectonic changes” in Ukraine showed that the supremacy pursued by the US in a monopolar world is a thing of the past.

The 70-year-old said the “historic period” of Western dominance was coming to an end. In the discussion, Putin also accused Western governments of “systematic errors” that have led to energy and economic crises. Russia will not accept a “dictation” from a “neo-colonial West”.

Other centers of power and a multipolar world are emerging in Asia and South America, for example, Putin said. “The West is incapable of leading humanity alone, no matter how desperate it tries.” The Kremlin chief stressed that Russia has an interest in good relations with all countries. “Russia is not an enemy.”

US military strategy: Russia “acute” threat

In its new military strategy, the US government sees Russia as an “acute” threat. The word was chosen carefully, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said when presenting the document on Thursday. “Unlike China, Russia cannot systematically challenge the United States in the long run,” Austin said. “But Russian aggression is a direct and acute threat to our interests and values.”

China was ranked as the main persistent threat. It is the only country that “both wants to rebuild the international order and has more and more strength to do so”.

With regard to the use of US nuclear weapons, it is said that a very high threshold is still set. However, the strategy does not prescribe that they should only be used in response to a nuclear attack.

IAEA plans inspections in Ukraine later this week

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) plans to send an observer mission to Ukraine this week following allegations by Russia that Kiev plans to use a “dirty” bomb in the war. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Thursday, according to a statement. Experts from the organization will conduct inspections at two sites in Ukraine this week after the Ukrainian government wrote to send teams of inspectors. Putin had also spoken out in favor of sending an IAEA observer mission to Ukraine as soon as possible.

What’s important on Friday

Kremlin chief Putin will chair a meeting this Friday of the Council of the Russian-led military alliance Organization of the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO). It must again be about the consequences of the war in Ukraine for the states of the former Soviet Union.

(sda/dpa)