This is banditry, breaking all the rules, attacking a free, sovereign, independent state, ordering large-scale aggression, President Andrzej Duda said when asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.
“First of all, it is banditry”
The presidents of Poland, Andrzej Duda, and Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, appeared in a joint interview with Polsat News on Friday, on the anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine. Among other things, they were asked about who Vladimir Putin is to them.
First of all, he is the leader of Russia who has broken all the rules not only of international law, but also of international coexistence
Duda replied. He admitted that until the last moment before the Russian attack on Ukraine, he did not want to think that Vladimir Putin would decide – as he emphasized – to act on such aggression.
Of course I knew who invaded Ukraine in 2014. It was clear that the famous green man, the so-called separatists in Donbass, in Lugansk, are actually Russian soldiers, a regular Russian army disguised as camouflage, so that Russia did not attack, at least in theory, so that you can deny and lie in the international arena and have such an excuse : this is not us+. In fact, everyone knew very well what was going on, but after all it was not an open, large-scale invasion, not in an international sense. So in a way the Russians had to hold back
said the Polish president.
And to be honest, until the last minute we thought there might be an attempt to do something similar here, kind of pretend it was the separatists in Donbass, in Luhansk who were attacked by Ukrainian forces, and the Russian army comes in (…) as a mediating force to separate them and actually takes territory and pretends to be a great army of peace. We thought that while Vladimir Putin would do his best to pretend to be like this, not to show that he is a brutal full-scale aggressor who breaks all the rules, who uses international banditry, that he is a normal criminal.
noted Duda.
When asked if Putin is a war criminal, he replied:
First of all, it is banditry, breaking all the rules, attacking a free, sovereign, independent state, issuing such an order about large-scale aggression, about the fact that civilian buildings are bombed, that people die, that schools, kindergartens, utility buildings are publicly bombed.
He pointed out that this is not a war that would only be fought between military units.
The Russians immediately turned it into all-out war. Ordinary people were attacked, they started tearing down their houses, they started ruining their lives
– added.
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“This is a maximum-scale war fought every day.”
The Polish president stressed that there is an all-out war going on in Ukraine. As he said, it is enough to listen to reports, for example, from Bachmut.
Today I read a report from one of the participants in these battles, who said that the average life of a soldier who enters Bakhmut to fight at the front is about five hours, after five hours such a soldier is eliminated on average, because he either seriously injured or not alive. It shows the scale of the battle there. The man said thousands of artillery shells fall there every day
– said President Duda.
This is a maximum scale war fought every day. This is really something unimaginable
he pointed it out.
“Today it is my enemy, the enemy of my people.”
The President of Ukraine was asked if he can imagine a situation where Vladimir Putin decides that Russian troops should withdraw from the entire territory of Ukraine and if he can sit with him at the negotiating table on the future peace.
First of all, you don’t have to imagine anything with Putin
said Volodymyr Zelensky.
Today it is my enemy, the enemy of my nation, my country
he stressed.
Therefore, we must be very practical in our actions. He doesn’t want to go out, you have to force him. How? Give his army a massive blow and hit the company that supported this war through sanctions, by blocking their accounts and business abroad and through political isolation. This is what we should all be doing
he pointed it out.
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As he said, then the Russian president “will be weakened, he will be weak, and then he will either leave alone, or we will displace him, we will bring him to the right state, to the right weight, importance in his country .”
If he means less in his own country, if all these steps are taken and it works, then Putin will step back and seek a compromise (…). It is then that he will send information all over the world, to countries large and small, which he is willing to negotiate. And then the question arises of how he wants to leave Ukraine
Zelensky added.
As of today, I am not ready, but even so, diplomacy may come into play once they are no longer on our territory.
he noticed. He pointed out that a lot depends on how the Russians will leave Ukraine.
Because they can go out and take the lives of many Ukrainians, which is why no one will be willing to talk to such a country. And we will talk to them in the language of ultimatums. Therefore, a lot depends on when, at what hour and how they will leave Ukraine and with what casualties, with what losses
– said the President of Ukraine.
kk/PAP
Source: wPolityce