Putin is "patient zero" who must be stopped. He never has enough captured territory, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was always looking for pretexts for further aggression and posed a danger to the entire world.
He said this during his address to the UN General Assembly, Censor.NET reports.
On Putin
According to Zelenskyy, the freer Putin is to act, the more dangerous it is for everyone.
"Since the beginning of the year, Putin has paid for every square kilometer captured with the lives of 248 Russians... Putin wants more of our cities. Something is stopping him from saying ‘peace.’ Seventeen million square kilometers of his own territory should be enough for him, but he wants to seize other people’s land. Can you imagine Putin without war? He is ‘patient zero’: the idea of war spreads from him to new territories. Patient zero must be stopped. Russian oil is not a target for Ukraine. Gasoline, diesel and refineries are not Ukraine’s goal. To stop Putin, we must stop Russian finances and production. We are trying to burn through Russia’s revenues — that is our goal. No Russian official thought Russia would have to defend itself against General Frost. If Russia strikes our energy facilities, we will do the same. That is why de-escalation is needed before winter," he said.
On Donbas
Zelenskyy confirmed that Putin had again promised US negotiators he would capture Ukraine’s Donbas during talks in Moscow in early September.
"This [Russia’s attempt to capture Donbas] has been going on for five years. And we know that Putin recently promised representatives of the US president once again that he would capture our Donetsk Oblast, saying he needed just a few more months. This is probably the 17th or 18th time in five years that he has made such a promise, but the deadlines keep shifting," he said.
"Putin will fail this time too. But afterward, he will again make it clear to the whole world that even our Donetsk Oblast is not enough for him. He wants more of our cities: Odesa and Kharkiv, Dnipro and others. Someone in the Kremlin even put up an image bearing the words ‘To Kyiv,’" the president said.
Zelenskyy added that Russia threatened lives in Ukraine every hour with drone and missile attacks, making it necessary to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow.
Background
- On September 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump met in New York on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. The two leaders discussed Patriot production in Ukraine. Trump said that he and Zelenskyy were working to end the Russia-Ukraine war before winter.
- The US president also said Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries had dealt the Russians "a serious blow", but had also affected global diesel prices.
- After meeting Trump, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready for any form of energy ceasefire with Russia. The US side was to convey the proposal to the Russians.
