Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Saturday that he had “broken the plan” of Russia on the third day of the invasion of his country, calling on the Russians to tell Vladimir Putin to stop the war.
He also called on Germany and Hungary, still reluctant, to have the “courage” to cut Russia off from the SWIFT interbank system, an essential cog in global finance.
“We held our ground and successfully repelled enemy attacks. Fighting continues in many cities and regions of the country, but… it is our army that controls Kiev and key towns around the capital,” Zelensky said in a video posted on his Facebook page.
“The occupiers wanted to block the center of our state and place their puppets there, like in Donetsk. We broke their plan, ”continued Mr. Zelensky, who assured that the Russian army had “obtained no advantage”.
“The enemy has used everything against us: rockets, fighters, drones, artillery, armored vehicles, saboteurs, paratroopers”, listed the Ukrainian president, saying that Moscow had hit residential areas and was trying to destroy electrical installations.
Calling on Westerners to be firmer towards Russia, he considered that Ukraine had “the right to obtain membership of the European Union”.
Addressing the Russian people, he urged them to tell the Kremlin “that the war must be stopped immediately”. “We know that many people in Russia are simply shocked by the pettiness and cruelty of the government,” he said.
Several anti-war protests have been harshly suppressed by police in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities since the invasion of Ukraine began on Thursday.