President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that on June 22, the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, Russia began the day not by honoring the victims of World War II, but with new strikes on Ukraine.
According to Zelenskyy, for Ukraine this date has always been a reminder of the importance of peace and of honoring the memory of millions of innocent victims of World War II.
The president said the tragedies of the 20th century should have permanently changed the attitude of states and the world toward human life, affirming it as the highest value.
“There would have been no world wars if the leaders of that time had been guided by the value of human life, rather than by their imperial delusions,” Zelenskyy said.
Instead, he said, today’s Russia began the day not with remembrance of the fallen and not with signals that could bring closer the end of its war against Ukraine, but with new unjustified killings.
Zelenskyy mentioned a Russian drone strike in Sumy Oblast that killed a child, a grandmother and a man. The mother and two other children from the same family were injured, and their house was destroyed.
“An ordinary house, not a military target at all,” Zelenskyy said.
He also said that two people were killed and seven others injured in Zaporizhzhia overnight as a result of Russian strikes. There were also casualties in Odesa Oblast, while strikes hit Kherson, Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts. In Chernihiv Oblast, Russia again attacked energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said Russia’s war against Ukraine has no just cause, and that Vladimir Putin is driven by the same motives as previous aggressors.
“He despises life in the same way. He is just as obsessed with some inadequate and unnecessary ‘empire’ of his own,” the president said.
According to Zelenskyy, the war must be brought to an end, as it has already been taking lives for a fifth year. He noted that Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has already lasted longer than World War I.
The president suggested that Russia may want the war to last even longer than World War II, but said the world can prevent this.
Zelenskyy called for pressure on Putin and Russia so that the war ends with a dignified peace and real, guaranteed protection for people’s lives.
“Ukraine has put forward all proposals for diplomacy. Through our joint pressure on the aggressor, we must bring Russia to a point where there are no options left except diplomacy and ending the war,” the president said.
He thanked everyone helping Ukraine defend itself and protect people’s lives.
