Volodymyr Zelensky gave an interview to Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for the newspaper Il Foglio.

Key quotes:

🔻 “In my opinion, nuclear weapons should not have been given up. But if Ukraine was forced to do so — and that was, at the very least, dangerous — it should have been exchanged for security guarantees. In peacetime, that means NATO; in wartime, it means a strong army.”

🔻 “The military has rotations or leaves, but it’s certainly not enough. Martial law involves mobilizing people and resources — all. That’s the challenge of this war. If tomorrow half of the army goes home, then we should have surrendered on the first day. Putin would just kill us all.”

🔻 “The reaction of the authorities at the time, as well as Europe and the U.S., was zero. This led to the absolutely treacherous Minsk document. It suited Putin perfectly. America had nothing to do with it and wasn’t even part of the Normandy Format. I’m still very curious about what Putin and Biden discussed in Switzerland (June 2021 — ed.).”

🔻 “Russia was given the opportunity to occupy part of Ukraine with impunity. Could we have developed, attracted investment, or become a NATO or EU member with a frozen conflict? No. And that’s exactly Putin’s goal — to create a pause and prevent Ukraine from becoming strong…”

🪐 To continue the work of Live: Ukraine, even the smallest but regular donations from readers are invaluable: Patreon, PayPal, Cryptocurrency, Bank Transfer