Gratitude for Italy’s support, the conviction of winning the war, our country’s role in reconstruction and the future of his in the EU, the response to Berlusconi’s statements about Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks flat-out from the pages of Corriere della Sera, Republic And Only 24 Hoursto whom he granted an interview (LIVE UPDATES ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE).
“We expect full cooperation from Europe”
“We just met Meloni in Brussels and I’m happy to welcome you to Ukraine”, reports the Milanese newspaper. “I am very grateful to Italy for choosing to send us arms both for anti-aircraft defense and for artillery. We expect full cooperation from Europe and we are sure that we will become members, also because we are clearing ourselves of our oligarchs and internal corruption. It is essential for us not to lose the support of Italy and no other country, which we have cultivated with great effort against the Kremlin’s intense disinformation campaign in recent years. Giorgia is a strong woman who can keep the government together”. Berlusconi? “He likes vodka, we have excellent quality in Ukraine, if he believes we give it to him”.
“With Putin Macron is wasting time”
Instead, with respect to the tensions between Washington and Beijing and the fear that the Chinese might send weapons to Russia, Zelensky replied: “I have addressed the Chinese leaders through direct channels and publicly so that they do not offer any support to the Russians”, while with respect to the openness to the dialogue left open by Macron with Putin, for Zelensky the French president “is wasting his time. We are unable to change the Russian attitude”.
“Russia without resources, war will be quick”
With respect to the progress of the conflict on the ground, a Republic, the president assures that “the war will be fast because Russia lacks the resources and will to fight. A truce would only be convenient for them. We are ready to repel the Russian offensive, we will defend Bakhmut and every single center, small or large, with the utmost of strength. This week we may face Russia’s revenge, there is indeed talk of an offensive coming. But they are not as powerful as they were a year ago, when they didn’t have enough resources to occupy our country anyway. Today they are weaker. We, on the other hand, are stronger. We are preparing for a short-lived war that will end in victory. The Ukrainians hate Putin’s policy and he can’t help it. Putin wants to rebuild the USSR, not he will make it. The Italians must understand that they cannot leave us alone”.
“Ukraine will continue to be the breadbasket of Europe”
With respect to the reconstruction, however, we read in the columns of Only 24 Hours, Zelensky outlines a strategy: Europe and democracy, “this is the priority. Secondly, we want to understand who the real partners are and where we show a production deficit. The United States is for us the technology market. Three major priorities in reconstruction of the economy. The first is “energy, diversifying production and storing electricity”. Then “the development of the agricultural sector. Ukraine is and will increasingly be the granary of Europe. We are ready to build new wheat hubs in the EU, Africa and Asia. Another direction of development: Cyber Security”.
“Two Phases to Reconstruction”
The reconstruction will take place in two phases: “The first is emergency reconstruction, what we need right away: bomb shelters for kindergartens, schools, universities. Homes where people can go back, and go back to work. The second phase will be real reconstruction” and he said to Italian companies: “Come here and we will rebuild Ukraine together. French and German companies are not enough”.
Source-tg24.sky.it