Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia’s invasion of his country was just the beginning and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine.
“All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line — and who will come next?” Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Friday.
Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying full control over southern Ukraine would give it access to Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-occupied part of Moldova in the west.
Photo: EPA-EFE
That would cut off Ukraine’s entire coastline and mean Russian forces pushing hundreds of kilometers west beyond current lines, past the major Ukrainian coastal cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter that Minnekayev’s statement showed Russia was no longer hiding its intentions.
Moscow, it said, had now “acknowledged that the goal of the ‘second phase’ of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.”
Russia says it is conducting a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine and liberate its population from dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and its Western allies call Russia’s invasion an unjustified war of aggression.
Minnekayev said Russian-speakers were oppressed in Transnistria, something Moldova and Western leaders reject.
The Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador on Friday to express “deep concern” about the general’s comments.
Moldova is neutral, it said.
Moldova last month formally applied to join the EU, charting a pro-Western course hastened by Russia’s invasion.
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