2024-04-03 04:36:24
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Russia this Thursday of “genocide” for the deportation of citizens and the “mass killings of civilians” in Donbas.
In his usual late-night speech, Zelensky said that the current Russian offensive in Donbas “can leave the region uninhabited. They want to burn Popasna, Bakhmut, Lyman, Lysychansk and Severodonetsk to ashes. Like Volnovaja, like Mariupol.” The Ukrainian president has denounced that the Russian military, who have occupied the country since last February 24, gather in the cities and communities closest to the border with Russia, in Donetsk and Lugansk, “to all who can to take the place of the dead and wounded in the occupation contingent”. And he has stated: “All of this, including the deportation of our people and the mass murders of civilians, is an obvious policy of genocide followed by Russia.”
He also added that this Thursday the invading military bombed Kharkov again and that at the moment the list of dead includes nine people and 19 wounded. “All civilians. A child (five months old) and a father were killed. The mother is in serious condition. Among the injured is also a nine-year-old girl.” Zelensky has criticized that the European Union do not apply new sanctions against Moscow and has specified that Russia receives almost 1,000 million euros a day from the Europeans for the supply of energy. “Of course, I thank our friends who are promoting new sanctions. But where did those blocking the sixth package get so much power? Why are they still allowed to have so much power?, even in intra-European procedures?” he said. Hungary, the main opponent of sanctions on Russian crude oil, considers that there are still key details to be finalized in the European Commission’s proposal, for example, in relation to the potential aid it would receive to compensate for current energy dependence. Coal is already on the European Union’s sanctions list, although oil – and much less gas – is not., due to the suspicion of the most dependent countries, especially in Eastern Europe. Moscow, however, has already cut off gas shipments to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland for refusing to pay for supplies in rubles.
In this way, Zelensky has stated that “the world has not dared to block the Russian banking system”, which would allow “depriving the aggressor of the opportunity to finance” not only the war against Ukraine, but “the policy of creating divisions and crises throughout the world.” “Since May 26, 2014, and even more so since February 24 of this year until today, there have been many opportunities for those who really have the strength to do it, to put an end to it and say: now Russia will really feel the price for what he is doing against Ukraine,” he highlighted.