Europe News Desk!!! Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky said that we have no confidence in Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, because Putin does not stick to his words. The Ukrainian leader told CNN in an interview on Wednesday night amid intense fighting in Bakhmut. Regarding talks with the Russian side, Zelensky said that he currently cannot imagine a situation in which he would meet with Putin. “We have no chance to talk to the President of the Russian Federation because he is not keeping his word,” he told CNN. We don’t trust them. Russia must leave our territory. Defending his decision to keep the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut, the president said, “It is important for us from a strategic point of view, we understand that after Bakhmut they can go further.” They can go to Kramatorsk, they can go to Sloviansk, so our soldiers are standing there.
After more than seven months of crackdown by Russia, Bakhmut’s deputy mayor, Oleksandr Marchenko, said only a few thousand civilians remained in underground shelters, with no running water, gas or electricity. The city is almost destroyed, not a single building has survived this war. But Ukrainian troops have also taken a tough stand to defend the region, stalling Russian advances. “We understand what Russia is trying to achieve there,” Zelensky told CNN. Russia needs at least a few victories. He said that if Russia is able to capture Bakhmut, it will send a message to his country and help organize that they are powerful. In the interview, the Ukrainian leader also spoke about how he and his family are dealing with the ongoing war, which completed one year on February 24.
Zelensky said, my daughter enrolled in the university and she studies there, and my son is studying in school in Ukraine. They are both in Ukraine like other Ukrainian kids. We live with the sirens. We want to win, he told CNN. We don’t want to get used to war, but we do get used to challenges. Everyone wants one thing, to end the war.
–IANS
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World News Desk!!!