The Russian invasion in Ukraine “will be the last war of Putin and this Russian regime”, estimated Thursday, April 28 on franceinfo the journalist Tetyana Ogarkova, head of the international department of the information center on the Ukrainian crisis, in kyiv. This intuition she had on the first day of the conflict “only confirms itself”, according to her. Tetyana Ogarkova thinks Joe Biden’s request to the US Congress to release $20 billion in military aid is a “turning point” moreover. An optimism shared by “93% of Ukrainians who think we will win this war”according to a study that it communicates.
>> Follow the latest information on the war in Ukraine in our live
franceinfo: What do you think of Antonio Guterres’ visit to Ukraine?
Tetyana Ogarkova: We would have preferred him to come to kyiv, Borodianka, Irpin, and Bouctha before going to Moscow to get to know the situation and talk to Vladimir Putin, but of course this visit is important for humanitarian support. They are expected especially in Mariupol, besieged for more than two months and where there have been fifty bombardments on the Azovstal factory, including banned phosphorus bombs. We have to evacuate the civilians so, if it can be used for that, that’s good.
Do you believe that the boss of the United Nations arrives with promises from Moscow?
No, frankly, we don’t trust Vladimir Putin. There have been many broken promises, especially for the humanitarian corridors in Mariupol. Putin’s word unfortunately has no value. It’s always good to try to negotiate with him but we are very wary of the concrete result that there may be after this visit.
How is Joe Biden’s request to the US Congress to release $20 billion in military aid perceived?
This is yet another decisive turning point after the meeting of forty defense ministers from the international community two days ago at the Rammstein military base in Germany. Our Western partners are no longer neutral. There is a certain resolve in the West to stop this cruel and unnecessary war and to put an end to the regime of Vladimir Putin and to weaken Russia, as the American Minister of Defense has said, so that he does not can no longer attack its neighbors in the decades to come.
What is the state of mind of the population at the moment in Ukraine and in the capital?
I visited kyiv yesterday to take a walk in the botanical garden. There was an air raid but I saw a lot of people on the streets, including children and babies. It’s almost normal life in fact, except in the northern suburbs devastated by the Russian army. Shops and café terraces are open, stores are working, there are just a few fewer cars and therefore traffic jams than before the war. The latest sociological studies indicate that 93% of Ukrainians believe that we will win this war. There is this optimism despite the drama in the East and the South. As I said on the first day of the invasion, this will be the last war for Putin and this Russian regime. Since then, my intuition has only been confirmed.