“The security architecture of our world is brittle, it is obsolete,” Zelensky said during a defiant speech. He accused governments of “egotism,” “arrogance” and “appeasement” as he urged Western leaders to publicly state their plans for sanctions on Russia
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour on Saturday at the Munich Conference that sanctions on Russia should be made public before a possible invasion of Ukraine occurs, as tensions between western nations and Russia continue to intensify.
SANCTIONS NOW
“The question of just making it public … just the list of sanctions, for them, for us, to know what will happen if they start the war — even that question does not have the support,” he told CNN.
“We don’t need your sanctions after the bombardment will happen and after our country will be fired at or after we will have no borders, or after we will have no economy … why would we need those sanctions then?”
“We had a discussion some time ago with one of the leaders of one of the leading countries and we were talking about the sanctions policy … we had a different vision on how sanctions should applied when Russian aggression will happen,” Zelensky said. “So when you are asking, what can be done, well, lots of different things can be done. We can even provide you with a list. The most important is willingness.
“If you can’t even disclose what will happen to whom if the war starts … I doubt it will be triggered after it happens,” he added.
“Action is needed,” he insisted, adding that “this is not about war in Ukraine, this is about war in Europe.”
AFTER THE PRESENTATIONS, THE US AGAIN TOLD REPORTERS THEY’D LEVEL SANCTIONS AFTER AN INVASION
The Biden officials discouraged him from going to the Munich Conference but he wanted to be certain there was a Ukrainian voice in the room.
THE FALSE FLAG
When asked about a potential false flag pretext for war with Russia, Zelensky told Amanpour that “any provocations are very dangerous.”
He said casualties between Ukraine and Russia were more significant in 2014 but admitted that current tensions are “horrible” and “a tragedy for our nation, for our people.”
“This is the tragedy for Russians as well who used to have good relations with Ukraine,” he added.
NATO AND DONBAS ARE THE PROBLEM
The Ukrainian President told CNN that NATO partners needed to clarify a timeline on which the country could join the military alliance.
“Ukraine needs security guarantees,” Zelensky said. “We are smart people, we are not narrow minded. We understand there are lots of different risks because of NATO, there is no consensus around other allies, everyone is saying there is some distance that we need to go between Ukraine and NATO that we need to walk. All we are saying is tell us how much time does it take to complete this distance?”
Russia doesn’t want NATO on his border, and therein lies the biggest problem. Just stop saying you’ll join NATO.
HE TRUSTS HIS INTEL
About US intelligence of an imminent invasion, Zelensky said he appreciated it, but “the intelligence I trust is my intelligence.”
“I trust Ukrainian intelligence who … understand what’s going on along our borders, who have different intelligence sources and understand different risk based on intercepted data… this information should be used.”
He continued: “We are not really living in delusion. We understand what can happen tomorrow … just putting ourselves in coffins and waiting for foreign soldiers to come in is not something we are prepared to do.”
Zelensky then called for international partners to support Ukraine by investing in the country. “Strengthen our arms… our economy. Invest in our country. Bring your business in.
“We are not panicking, we want to live our lives,” he added.
HE RECEIVED A STANDING OVATION
Watch:
Zelensky is an interesting guy pic.twitter.com/roodNCyGuk
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 19, 2022
HIS OPENING SPEECH CAN BE READ HERE
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