Truth and lies at Zelenskyy’s press conference
The stream of Censor.NET Editor-in-Chief Yurii Butusov is dedicated to the big press conference of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which took place on 25 February. Many issues related to the war and real problems were raised there. Where was the truth and where were the lies in Zelenskyy’s answers? It is important to separate what is in the mind and on the tongue of our leadership because it affects the future of each of us and the whole country.
Hello! I'm going to analyze some of the questions as I see them because Volodymyr Zelenskyy was afraid to invite me to this press conference again. Therefore, I could not ask him a question, and the president considers it possible to exclude those journalists whom he does not like. The official reason given was that there was not enough space. That is, without indicating that he disagrees with something or other reasons - no, there is no room, so we do not invite you. This is the freedom of speech under Zelenskyy. So, here we go. Then I will read out some of your thoughts and answer questions.
IS 2024 A TURNING POINT IN THE WAR?
(video)
- From Chasiv Yar: The situation there seems very difficult. You have fewer weapons now, and now the Russians are advancing further, so the question is, are these the weakest times for Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion when the Russians were almost close to Kyiv? And also. One of the representatives of your government said that the first year of the war for Ukraine was a year of courage, and the second year was a year of resistance and resilience. How would you describe the third year of the war for Ukraine?
After the Middle East, we understand the absolute attention of the world to this tragedy, and this is a fact, and we understand how important it was for journalists to pay attention to this tragedy, but at the same time, the focus of leaders also moved away from Ukraine. This is also a fact. Attention was divided, and in some regions, people even began to forget that there was a full-scale war going on. Today, I think it was the most difficult period. Not because of the Middle East. A lot of things came together. The end of our counter-offensive. The beginning of Russia's counteroffensive. By the way, you were talking about now. But their offensive began on October 8, I don't think I remember the exact date, but in mid-October. Now we are just seeing the consequences when we weaken in terms of the number of weapons. But we did not see this offensive. I mean the society, for the most part, did not see it. Because we stood firm, yes. The package has been reduced, we have reduced (in ammunition - ed. note) a little bit on the battlefield. In the directions you mentioned. The year of elections, defocusing everything at once. Challenges from outside, inside, etc. Someone is tired, someone is talking about it, someone is silent about it. And this is such a crucial year. And that's why we need exactly what you said in a crucial year. We need both courage and resilience to survive. I think the format of the end of the war will depend on this year. I think so. I may be wrong.
(end of the video)
It is always difficult to analyze Volodymyr Oleksandrovych because his thoughts, when he has no text and has not studied it, are very chaotic, and it is difficult to understand where he is going with this. The journalist's question was about the turning point year. The President said that we did not have enough weapons there. The enemy was advancing. What should I say? Certainly, one of the important factors why Russia continues to have an advantage on the battlefield is its superiority in weapons. That is why I always support the calls of the authorities, the calls of President Zelensky to the West that we need more weapons, that we are losing because of the lack of weapons and we have much greater losses because of the lack of weapons. And this pressure is needed. Another thing. The President is not aware of the situation at the front. Because the Russian offensive has not stopped in some areas. It started much earlier. The enemy was very active, acting since the beginning of September. As for the date in October, which the president confused a little bit, it means October 10, when the Russian army launched an offensive on Avdiivka. October 10, 2023, was not the first assault on Avdiivka, but the third major offensive operation of the enemy to capture Avdiivka. But the general offensive of Russian troops and the activity of Russian troops began much earlier, back in September when the enemy was not in passive defense. When we assumed offensive actions, these offensive actions were ensured solely by the fact that we had a certain number of reserve brigades deployed, and we replenished them with people. People carried out the offensive. The enemy waited until we could not sustain this pace. And when we ran out of ammunition and manpower for this offensive, we suffered significant losses, and the enemy moved forward. But we had the advantage of the enemy in ammunition, and the enemy maintained the advantage in ammunition all this time, and thus retained the tactical initiative. Therefore, it is false to say that we only attacked there. Large-scale offensives, the enemy's attacks, also began earlier. As for the fact that this year will be decisive and crucial, every year of Independence is decisive and crucial. As for the courage and persistence of the calls, I think that the Ukrainian people have already shown exceptional courage and persistence. It would be nice if the president could say at least once that what is needed this year is intelligence and intelligent, organized action by the authorities. Instead, he keeps making appeals. His appeals are to the West, to give us weapons, to the people, to give us courage and resilience. Thanks to the fact that Ukrainians have courage and resilience, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is still sitting in his chair and giving press conferences. It was not the actions of our government or Zelenskyy's leadership that stopped Russia. What stopped it was the fact that people showed tremendous courage and resilience on a historic scale. This year will be a turning point only if the authorities start acting in an organized and wise manner. I would like the President's Office to at least correct the texts because it's just ridiculous. We have ten times more courage and resilience than the enemy. We are losing in ammunition because we do not produce ammunition. We are still not building engineering structures at the front. There is no normal organized work with people, no training of people, no use of combat equipment. We have big problems with this.
THE ISSUE OF WAR LOSSES
(video)
31 thousand Ukrainian soldiers died in this war. Not 300,000, not 150,000, whatever Putin and his lying group say. Nevertheless, each of these losses is a loss for us. Russians, 180 thousand of them died. The total number of dead and wounded in Russia, I don't know how many missing persons they have, and I know that it is up to 500, including the wounded. The number of Ukrainians is 31 thousand. And it is very painful for us. I won't say how many wounded, because Russia will know how many people have left the battlefield. There are missing persons. As for the accuracy of the figures, the last exchange showed that we will be inaccurate with you because we have returned several people who were on the list of missing persons and returned alive.
(end of the video)
Regarding the issue of losses. This is an issue that I do not consider necessary to discuss. There is a war going on. We are inferior to the enemy in everything: in numbers, in weapons, in equipment. The difference in military capabilities is simply enormous. When a country controls the situation and wins the war, it strengthens its positions and reports accurate losses, thus increasing public confidence. This is not the case with us. That is why I was against the announcement of any figures by the head of state. This is an unwise decision. Our Western partners - the leadership of the United States, politicians in Britain and America - gave their estimates of Ukrainian and Russian losses. There were losses, for example, 70 thousand people killed in Ukraine. I will not even give an estimate, because it is not true. It was enough for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to say simply: friends, there are certain estimates in the Western media, we will not even name the numbers. Why do we need to assess Russian lies? They have already agreed that they killed almost a million Ukrainians. Does the Russian media have any influence on the information field? Everyone already understands that this is a complete lie. I can say it again: it is a lie. And to give exact figures of losses - I don't see any logic in this. Now the discussion will begin about what is right and wrong, who was included in these losses, who was not. The President said that we should not give the number of wounded. Yes, he was right to say that the number of wounded should not be disclosed because it gives an idea of our mobilization potential. But the death toll also gives an idea of our mobilization potential. Because you can build a projection from the dead, wounded, missing, and captured and create something for yourself, a construction. There is no need to create unnecessary information waves. This discussion about the number of casualties is simply a misunderstanding of the situation. I want to tell you that no country in the world - just look at World War II - which is under attack and is engaged in a war of attrition, loss of people, never gives figures. It just doesn't make sense. We do officially recognize some losses. We have no taboo. We can read about each person who died, and information is posted on social media. We can count just obituaries in the media. I believe that this discussion during active hostilities is illogical.
THE CASE OF SURVEILLANCE OF BIHUS.INFO JOURNALISTS
(video)
- Do you keep under control the investigation into the surveillance of the Bihus.info team, do you already know who the organizer is, and if it turns out that the head of the special service knew about this special operation, will you change him?
- I have already answered, maybe, at a closed meeting with journalists of Ofrek... You probably weren't there. The leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine of the relevant direction, the DPNS (Department for Protection of National Statehood - ed. note ), it seems to me. Yes, this person, the head of the DPNS, regardless of whether this person knew or not, I don't want to get into it - the law enforcement officers themselves are already dealing with it. This person was fired. The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Malyuk, said that he would disband even this department. This is his business. I don't care who the customer is - this person has been fired. And then the investigation will figure out if there was an order.
(end of the video)
I have to say frankly that this is just a shameful lie by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, during the war of the people of Ukraine. Every phrase in his answer is untrue. And the president deliberately wants to mislead the people of Ukraine. First of all. There is a direct responsibility of Zelenskyy himself for the surveillance of journalists. This is because it was Volodymyr Zelenskyi who appointed Roman Semenchenko, the head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood of the Security Service of Ukraine, by his decree. This is his decree. Likewise, it is the President's decree that removes Semenchenko from the post of head of the DPNS. The head of the SSU himself, Maliuk, cannot just write: you are dismissed. Because he did not appoint him. The president appoints him. What does "dismissed person" mean? Is there such a punishment for a criminal offense as dismissal? There is no such thing in the Criminal Code. The president said nothing about the fact that it was actually a crime. If surveillance of journalists by 30 SSU officers was normal and authorized, then why should Semenchenko be fired? He was doing everything legally. And if he did it illegally and was dismissed, it was a crime. Then he should be detained. And the president must first of all report to the people of Ukraine why the leader he appointed committed this crime. I would like to remind you that the crime here is not even that Semenchenko put video cameras to spy on female journalists in the bedroom. During the hostilities. He assigned 30 employees of the media supervision department to follow the girls in a hotel near Kyiv. And they even installed a camera in the sauna to see what they looked like in swimsuits. The issue is that this data collected by Roman Semenchenko was appointed by Zelenskyy: video and a whole year of audio conversations. They recorded people from Bihus's team, edited the audio and video, and Roman Semenchenko posted this video on the Internet. Illegal installation of listening devices is a criminal offense. He also disclosed the data of criminal intelligence and surveillance operations. This is another article of the Criminal Code. Each of them carries several years in prison. And the president, who appointed this head, says: I don't know about it, it's the law enforcement that's looking into it. Did the president have to say whether he gave the order or not? How he assesses the actions of his subordinate. But this is your subordinate, appointed by your decree, only your decree can remove him. The president had to say whether it was a crime or not and what to do with the person who committed these crimes. What conclusion do we draw from this? That in fact, this crime, the illegal surveillance of Bihus.info journalists, the illegal installation, the illegal leak of spying data on journalists, was committed on the orders of Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself, who is now trying to hide his crime from people. This is a shameful lie. But that's not all. Both I and Bihus's team reported that on January 29, a group of employees of the DPNS, including Roman Semenchenko, were awarded the Order of Danylo Halytskyi by a closed decree of President Zelenskyy. This was done precisely because they were recording journalists. A request was made to the Security Service by Bihus.info. The Security Service said that - a very cunning answer - no orders were awarded. But there was a request to know whether there was a decree on awarding them or not. But they said nothing about the decree for the "heroes of our time". So now it is unclear whether they are criminals or not. And dismissal is not a punishment for a crime. It is an attempt to hide the traces of his criminal order. Because if the president really wanted to get to the bottom of this story, he would have to say that Semenchenko should be in jail for this crime, for disclosing information. Roman Chervinskyi, a colonel, is in the pre-trial detention center. For some reason, he is being held in custody. And no one is interested in the evidence there. And here we have evidence, but no reaction from the head of state. Therefore, this response is a complete lie by Zelenskyy, which greatly discredits the state. Not only did he say nothing about what he really considers worthy of high state awards for the fired Semenchenko. He also said nothing about the fact that in fact it was a series of provocations against civic activists and journalists. The same provocation was carried out, 100% clear now, by order of the President's Office, Zelenskyy himself, and against journalist Yurii Nikolov, who constantly writes incriminating anti-corruption materials. Against public activist Oleksandr Lemenov. That is, there are a large number of provocations that have occurred over the past few weeks. And all of this was done by specific people. And now the president says he is not aware of it. It is a shame that there is a war going on, people are dying for justice. And as head of state, we have a man who openly lies to people's faces. It's a shame.
NEW STRATEGY FOR 2024. LEAK OF THE 2023 COUNTER-OFFENSIVE PLAN
(video)
- General Syrskyi took over the command, and we have not heard an explicit explanation for why you fired Zaluzhnyi. And under the leadership of the new Commander-in-Chief, what will your new strategy be in 2024? Are you preparing a new counteroffensive? If you can, tell us more.
- There is a plan. I cannot tell you the details. I do not have the right to do so. This plan is related to the change of leadership. Several plans will be prepared because of the leakage of information. Some things depend on us, some on our partners. That is why there are delays in certain processes. The main thing is to have a plan, and we do have one. I cannot tell you the details of this plan. To be honest, the fewer people who know the plans of the Ukrainian army, the faster the victory and the unexpected result for the Russians. And I will tell you frankly, our counteroffensive actions last fall were on the Kremlin's table before the counteroffensive actions began.
(end of the video)
A lot is also said here. It is difficult, of course, to realize this. There are many directions in this answer. Unfortunately, only one journalist, a Japanese journalist, was able to ask about the reasons for Valerii Zaluzhnyi's dismissal. So far, no Ukrainian journalist has been able to ask the president such a question and get a public official answer. Zaluzhnyi was a symbol of resistance to Russian aggressors at a time when no one expected Zelenskyy to do so. At least Ukrainian journalists could have answered this question. Now about the plans. As it turns out, there is a plan. Of course, there is no point in disclosing it. The question arises as to the content of this plan. The plan should be based on certain numbers of mobilization of people, on certain new principles of organization of the military after the change - the president changed the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and now says: we have a new plan. So it should include what: how much we will mobilize by the end of the year, how much ammunition we will receive from our partners, and especially how much ammunition we will be able to produce ourselves, how we will be able to improve the organization of training, how we will build defense lines. So far, there are no signs of any plan on the combat front. Now we are told that the enemy captured the village of Lastochkyne the day before yesterday and has already taken hold of the next village, Orlivka. They are moving on from Avdiivka. They have already entered the village of Berdychi. They have captured Stepove and are advancing to Berdychi. That is, they are pushing our troops west of Avdiivka. I was there a few days ago. I didn't see any defense lines there. We left Avdiivka, and it seems that was also a plan, but there is nothing there. Who was preparing all this? What a strange plan to fight in an open field in empty landings, where they send soldiers with a shovel and say, go, dig a defense line. Didn't we have time to dig in behind Avdiivka, did we? Next. The third thing that the president said, which is how you can hear it, is that the plan for an offensive in 2023 was immediately on the Russians' table. Here again, we need to ask clarifying questions: who is responsible for this? If there is such information, then the counterintelligence regime should be very strong. I hope no one sent this plan for Votsap to anyone. If there is a leakage of information from those few copies that were supposed to be only with the top leadership, only with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and a few leaders, we need to find out where it came from. We need to investigate. As for this offensive, these frontal attacks on Tokmak continued until September. Who decided to act like that then? So now we have unprecedented information, according to the president, there was a leak of information, perhaps for the first time since the beginning of the war, about the strategic plans of our troops. We have to react to this somehow. Unfortunately, the press conference was organized in such a way that it was impossible to clarify anything with the president. Because there are a million questions. The president rarely talks to Ukrainian journalists and allows them to ask a dozen questions. In a year. He talks to Western journalists a little more often, and they have the opportunity. However, Westerners do not fully understand what is happening in Ukraine. They work for a different audience. They ask questions not for Ukrainians, but for their readers. This is an absolutely dangerous story. That is, there has been a leak of information, as stated by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Now we have to know if other plans are leaked in this way as well, aren`t they? That is, the enemy knows where it is advancing. These attacks on empty positions where there are no trenches, the enemy sees everything, right? Not only from drones, but he also has plans. This is very dangerous. I would like to hear from the president what decisions he has made in connection with the fact that the plan of our offensive operation was betrayed and handed over to the enemy. Who is responsible for this? He said and... and then think, it's up to you.
RUSSIAN SUPERIORITY ON THE BATTLEFIELD
(video)
Russian pressure is quite strong in the Kharkiv direction, where Kupiansk is, where you were. The intensity of the use of artillery by the Russians was about 1 to 12. And this was until the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Now we have 1 to 6.6. That is, about 1 to 7. This is a decrease in their advantage in numbers, but the advantage is still significant. And we need to come to the point where we have had appropriate operations, counter-offensives, where we were outnumbered 1 to 1.5, 1 to 3. Then we will be able to push the Russians back. Until there is such a number, we will be able to stand, or we will lose... lose... 100 meters. 50 meters. All this is important for us, but the military decides strategically, it is more important not to lose people because in these small towns or villages, where 10-20 houses are left, there are no people there or there are some people who do not want to leave and save themselves or, God forbid, their children. But mostly there are no children there. There are hostilities there. If we take Avdiivka, what you are talking about, the Kharkiv direction, Donbas, then, for example, in Avdiivka, to be honest, yes, Russia has raised it in the information field. The question is why? Because it needs to show some kind of advantage. But what kind of advantage is it when the fighting around Avdiivka has been going on not even since the beginning of the full-scale war, but since 2014, since the first occupation of our territory. There were many journalists present here. So the answer is very simple. We should press for those packages (of military aid - ed. note) that have been discussed, agreed and signed. I know that then the Russians will have fewer chances. And as soon as we have 1 to 1 in one direction or another in terms of the number of weapons, we will definitely show the result, as we have done more than once.
(end of the video)
It's just hard to comment on this. I have to comment on it. Because this man is, unfortunately, in charge of the war. This is how he imagines it. Then this idea is directly projected onto the fighting. I was unpleasantly surprised by this answer, which simply shows that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief has a hard time imagining what is happening at the front. The issue is not only the number of shells. In terms of shells, I want to say that the enemy has always outnumbered us many, many times over. Here, the question of 1 to 12 is a little bit unclear. The issue is not the number of artillery pieces on both sides. The question is the amount of ammunition the enemy can use at the front. The enemy has an advantage in all types of ammunition. This applies to artillery pieces, mortar shells, and grenades for grenade launchers. To be honest, I don't quite know how it can even be calculated when the enemy is bombarding our positions with shots. Now it is no longer a question of attacking when the enemy has more shells. But you cannot attack when the enemy has more shells. It is impossible. The events of the Kharkiv offensive in 2022, when the enemy had an advantage in ammunition, but he transferred all his reserves to Kherson, will never happen again, and our troops managed to advance rapidly in the Kharkiv offensive and defeat him. We cannot repeat the same situation twice. Russia has mobilized and now Russia has organized a superiority in manpower and infantry at the front. This has changed everything absolutely, we cannot attack. It's not just the number of shells that dictates. The enemy has concentrated much more manpower, drones. And the means of war are not just shells. We cannot attack if the enemy has even three times as many shells. This is wrong planning. The offensive now requires clear planning of all means of destruction. If the enemy has a 3-fold advantage in reconnaissance and munitions, no offensive is possible. Why say things that, as we can see now, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief simply does not understand? All the military understand that this is just a level of talk - well, kindergarten. Why talk? You can keep silent. Again, the call: The West, give us more shells. This is the right thing to do. But the West won't give us any shells - what should we do? The problem is not that, as the president says, we are withdrawing 50-100 meters. In fact, we see the map, we have to withdraw much further. But these withdrawals of 50-100 meters, why are they happening? Someone is paying for this with their lives and friends. With their lives. And not only shells kill. Now the enemy has drones as one of the main means of destruction. Especially fpv drones. And what to do with drones? When the president talks to Western journalists, I at least understand the logic of these calls. But if Ukrainian journalists are invited, and the format is made for Ukrainian media, so that Ukrainian society and the army can watch it, some real things need to be said. Why does this cause such indignation? Because the way a person thinks and speaks, that's how he or she governs. I want to say that funding for the state order of drones for 2024 has not yet begun. Western shells? Are drones allowed at least? We can make drones. This will reduce the enemy's advantage. Why is this not being done? After all, roads are being built, salaries are being paid to officials. The President's Office has a lot of people, you can assemble a brigade from the employees of the President's Office. A thousand people are working in the Office of the President, the Presidential Administration. They are booked by the TCR (Territorial Centre for Recruitment - ed. note). This raises the question of why the answer says some unstructured phrases that are far from reality and do not say anything about what the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the government itself are doing.
THE RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE IN 2024
(video)
Russia will be preparing offensive actions in early summer or late May or so. If they can. They will be preparing. We will prepare for their battle. Their battle, which began on October 8, has not brought any result, I believe. For our part, we will prepare our plan and follow it. The elections in the United States will be the turning point, and we will understand what will happen after that. I believe that we will be able to hold the first summit, at least we will do our best to prepare a document for the whole world that can lead to the end of the war, which should end in a just peace for us, for everyone, for Ukraine.
(end of the video)
Several different opinions in one answer about many things. The main thing I understood is that the president believes that the Russian offensive will be in May. If they can. In fact, Russia is not stopping its offensive. It started earlier than October 10, as we talked about. The enemy is actively fighting for the tactical initiative. Many people think that Russia's offensive is like 2022 when they have to march in columns from 8 sides. This will not happen. The professional Russian army that did this has been defeated. Now a large mobilized Russian army is fighting. But it has a great advantage. Why? Because Russia has established a constant transfer of manpower to the front line. It is replenishing its troops, replenishing its infantry, and advancing in many areas. Somewhere they are held, somewhere they advance 100 meters, and somewhere we lose Avdiivka and 32 square kilometers of territory. Now we continue to lose more. Because the enemy does not stop. He is not waiting for May. And why is he advancing? Because we have no positions in Lastochkyne, in Orlivka. There are no defense lines. Russia is advancing and is digging a line of fortification behind Avdiivka, and now it will dig in front of Avdiivka. They are digging systematically, allocating people, equipment, resources, reinforced concrete, wood, concentrating it, planning a budget and working for months. State-owned construction companies are working. The engineering and construction units of the Russian Defense Ministry are working. And they dig, dig, dig. Reducing their losses. And they are advancing. And what about us? We have no such defense lines. Not even partially. I'm not saying to recreate them, but at least make them smaller. Build where, at what line, the troops can enter well-equipped positions. Instead, it's just words. Maybe they won't be able to. Maybe they can't. Let's sign... after the US presidential election, in October 2024, the president expects that there will be negotiations, a document. Who is this for? We have to live until October 2024. Of course, the people in the basement on Bankova Street think that they will definitely live. They have to do the work of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. That is, we should not wait for someone to stop Putin - the US presidential election, some agreements. Putin will not stop until the Ukrainians stop him. Yes, with the support of Western weapons, more shells, more money - all this is necessary. But our soldiers will stop him. Ukrainians. With great losses. And if we don't think and do something to reduce the losses, who will stop it if the Western military industry wakes up in three years and starts giving us more shells than Russia. Who will fight this war? War requires command, tactics, and proper use of forces and means. Who will do this? People mobilized from the streets, did they? Now we are throwing not only organized units into an open field with shovels to defend ourselves, but even the infantry are being thrown in. And even cooks. Why? Because there are no positions. The infantry is quickly knocked out. They are knocked out not only by shells but also by drones. They are knocked out by air bombs. That's why, of course, we need defense lines so that people have a good chance to survive, to stay in position for a long time in comfortable conditions, to effectively destroy the enemy. It's just strange to me that two years later, we are talking about it on streams, writing about it, even politicians have started talking about it. But it is not being done. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief says nothing about it. And there are constant spells to someone else. When will you start addressing yourself? Will you have time to assign tasks to yourself?
LAW ON MOBILIZATION. US ASSISTANCE
(video)
- Please tell us about the law on mobilization. It seems to have 3,000 amendments. When do you expect it to be adopted, and what result do you expect it to have? That's the first thing. Second. About the American aid. If we don't get it within a month, do we have any internal reserves other than European money, and what are we counting on?
- What are we counting on? First, when we talk about American aid, we must understand that this is not a matter of financial reserves, but of weapons. I emphasize once again that for the most part, all this money is a weapon. And so you understand what the result will be. We will be weakened on the battlefield. And here I cannot tell you what will happen. I don't have a reserve here. We use weapons that we have. We will look for other opportunities, buy weapons, take additional money, additional loans, put pressure on our partners, ask them for more money. I emphasize once again that this is a question of specific weapons packages, of filling the specific defense of our state. The Patriot system, for example, costs 1.5 billion. Yes, but you can't buy it. You can't buy it without the United States. That's the answer. Is it possible to strengthen Ukraine's air defense without the United States? No. There are no corresponding systems in the world. What is available in the world as an alternative is very small in quantity. So when we say, is there an alternative to the United States' assistance, and where can we get the money? We will find the money. We will not find that many weapons. As for the law, you have already mentioned all the difficulties in your question. There are 3,000 amendments. Let the deputies work and then answer the country what will happen next? Thank you.
(end of the video)
Let's go through step by step. Indeed, we need more air defense systems. Of course, the decision depends on the United States government, and for many of the items we are talking about now, such as long-range air defense systems, there really is no alternative. These systems are available in sufficient quantities for deliveries only in the United States. Nowhere else. The president is telling the truth here. Therefore, we do have alternatives, but they are possible in products that we can produce ourselves. Mortar shells. Engineering structures that save people, the main resource of war, which creates an advantage over the enemy in war. Weapons, for example, drones, power supplies, things that allow the use of sensors. Vehicles. We can buy a lot of things, we don't need the United States for that. Yes, there are certain types of weapons that we depend on them. For example, Himars missiles, Patriot missiles. In general, missile defence weapon systems. But we need to focus on alternatives in other types, what we can do. For example, for mortar shells, for artillery shells. We only need fuzes, gunpowder, cases, and assembly; we can do it ourselves. We can even buy ready-made production lines for gunpowder, fuzes, and gunpowder production. Yes, it takes a long time. This is what the government should be doing. Resources should be focused on this. Nothing has been said about this. I want to tell you that we still haven't started funding drones. Therefore, when the president says that money can be found, I would like you to find it for drones. Right now. If there is not enough money, of course, the country cannot have money for everything, but then we need to re-plan the state budget expenditures. There is a war going on. We need to invest in drones. So far, most of the drones, especially the attack drones at the front, are volunteer drones. Next. A question about mobilization. Unfortunately, this answer of the President is an outright lie. Let me remind you that there is a law on mobilization in Ukraine. There is the Constitution of Ukraine, the duties of the President of Ukraine. It says in the clearest possible terms that only one official is responsible for mobilization - the President of Ukraine. He is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And when the president tells us at the end of February, soon to be the third month of 2024, that I have passed it to the Verkhovna Rada, let them deal with it, it means that the president is neglecting the law and his official duties. Why does he even get a salary then? This is an absolutely false answer. It's a shame that the president voiced such a lie to so many media outlets, to the whole world, with foreign journalists.
MEETING WITH PUTIN IN 2019. THE CONSEQUENCES
(video)
- 2019. 9 December. Paris. Normandy meeting. You, Merkel, Macron, Putin. We all remember the photos, the footage from the press conference. But there was another meeting where there were no cameras, where there were no cameras. You met face-to-face with Putin. Very, very little is known about this meeting. Only the fact is known. Now seems like a good time to talk about it, what happened at that meeting? How did Putin behave toward you? What did you talk about in general? And in general, what happened behind closed doors when you were face-to-face?
- What do you mean, how did Putin behave toward me?
- In what sentiment? We had a long conversation with different sentiments. I told him that the Minsk agreements would not work, because the very subject of withdrawal of troops along the contact line is not working. I explained to him with very specific figures. I had already had experience, I had visited the contact line back then. And I had experience, how long, as you remember, we had the first steps of withdrawal, and I showed him that look at the total numbers, how long we withdrew. I showed him that we would be withdrawing for 20 years. This means that we will be in a state of frozen conflict for 20 years, which means that the war is not over. That's what we were talking about. We talked about it for a long time, bargained about it, and there was also a second issue, the gas story. About the court case that we won. But you know how they react to won cases. And there was an acceptance that they would give us the money. We received the money then. And the third question we had was about the exchange. We exchanged more than 100 people. And he kept raising the issue of ceasefire, you know, but how it could work, what we saw later. For several months, something tried to work, but there were still losses. Well, that was basically what we were talking about. There were no colourings.
- Is it surprising?
- In face-to-face contact?
- I don't remember anymore, to be honest. It seems to me that it was all in another life and everything was completely different. I don't really remember all the details, to be honest. We need to sit down and think about it. We have to sit down and think about all these details. I remember it was a very long time... a very long time. A very long time.
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It turns out that the President of Ukraine does not remember the talks with the head of the aggressor state. This is simply incredible. I want to say that based on these negotiations, which the president no longer remembers, a decision was made to sign a comprehensive truce. Perhaps the president has already forgotten this, but for 2.5 years he told the people of Ukraine that there would be no war, that only political and diplomatic solutions would be found in Donbas, that there was no need to panic. That we have a comprehensive ceasefire, a great success, a step forward. Everything is fine, don't worry. At the same time, there were orders for a ceasefire at the front, and there was an order from Defense Minister No. 330 by Taran that there would be fines for those who shot at the enemy. For some reason, the president has forgotten all this. He had this in his previous life. Well, you know, it's just unpleasant to talk about the past life, because many people, unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives because of this forgetfulness of the president. In general. Because it turns out now that the president did not believe that the Minsk agreements could work, but at the same time he was implementing the Minsk agreements and convincing everyone that it was good that it was happening, instead of at least preparing the country for war. And what was done to prepare for the war? I think we will all never forget this. The panic of the authorities. The handing out of assault rifles on the day of the invasion after the invasion. From the cars, to everyone: go defend yourself. This is your problem now. The authorities and Zelenskyy have the same attitude to the war, to the defense of Ukraine, as we saw on February 24. The law on mobilization? This is not me. Let the Rada consider the amendments. What's it got to do with me? I am only the Supreme Commander-in-Chief here. The head of the SSU`s DPNS Semenchenko is surveilling some journalists illegally, and what about me? I just appointed him by decree. Let the SSU deal with this. They are law enforcement officers. Fight on your own, do everything on your own, and I will manage and give press conferences. But only for those I want to, so that I don't hear uncomfortable questions. We have seen that the president is terribly afraid not for the image of Ukraine, not for the reputation of the government, not for the future. He is simply afraid of someone showing that he is forgetting a lot of things. He lies a lot. And he treats people's lives, the lives of citizens, and the future of our country irresponsibly. To the war. This is what he is really afraid of. Well, what can I say? I think and hope that the time will come when investigators and law enforcement agencies will summon Volodymyr Zelenskyy for questioning, summon Andrii Yermak, who was the main intermediary power, was in direct contact with the Russian Presidential Administration. And how they, Zelenskyy, Yermak, their subordinates, Ruslan Demchenko, in particular, convinced the society, the people of Ukraine until the last day that there would be no war, no invasion. Do not worry. Do not panic. You'll have barbecues in May, you'll have a vacation. And I will congratulate you later that everything is fine. You've done well. For this self-deception and for the fact that the authorities actually played along with Putin's plans in these round dances that they held at meetings that Zelenskyy seems to have forgotten about. He will have to answer for all of this. I hope that during the interrogation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in due course, the memory will return, because the consequences of his conversations with Putin are terrible for Ukraine. For hundreds of thousands of people. For millions. We heard nothing about this at the press conference. He was trying to make himself another "warm bath". As for what the president said and didn't say: you know, maybe we shouldn't have expected anything in particular. I was sorry that at this press conference on this day, the president did not mention Stepan Ilkovych Khmara in any way. It was the day of the burial of Stepan Khmara, a Hero of Ukraine, one of the symbols of the struggle for freedom in Ukraine, an outstanding Ukrainian, a man with a strong will of steel. It was important to remember him. I constantly think of this outstanding personality. This man is always an example for us. When, even in the most difficult conditions of the Soviet totalitarian system, a person fought for Ukraine. He fought even without any chance of success. But he believed in our victory, believed that Ukraine would become a free and independent state. He believed in the future of the Ukrainian nation. He fought because he understood that only such a struggle, a consistent, effective struggle of one person, can change a lot. So, dear friends, I want to say that power is always changing. Everything changes. Because there are many people in Ukraine with the same will as Stepan Khmara who continue his struggle. These people are with us. It is these people, with such a steely will, who hold the front and destroy the Russian occupiers. They make all these press conferences and my broadcast possible. Those people who are not watching us now. Who are now fighting off Russian drones and artillery in a cold trench. They survive to fight the enemy. This is our main inspiration and this is the strength we believe in. This is the force we have to support. That is why, despite all the problems in the government, I am more confident today than ever that we will win, Ukraine will be free. Thank you for the broadcast. Glory to Ukraine!
