Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the West for trying to “tear apart” Russia, in extracts from an interview to be aired on national television yesterday, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged his compatriots to persevere as they observed a Christmas Eve defined by war.
“At the core of it all is the policy of our geopolitical opponents aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia,” Putin said. “They have always tried to ‘divide and conquer’... Our goal is something else — to unite the Russian people,” he said.
Putin has used the concept of “historical Russia” to argue that Ukrainians and Russians are one people — undermining Kyiv’s sovereignty and justifying his 10-month offensive in Ukraine.
Photo: AFP
“We are acting in the right direction, we are protecting our national interests, the interests of our citizen, of our people,” Putin said.
He said that Moscow was “ready to negotiate with all participants in this process [to find] an acceptable solution” to the conflict.
However, he said: “Of course we will destroy it, 100 percent,” referring to the Patriot missile battery US President Joe Biden has promised to Zelenskiy.
On Saturday — which marked 10 months since the start of the Russian invasion — Zelenskiy blasted Russian “terror” after shelling left 10 dead and 55 injured in Kherson city.
Shells rained down around a busy market and started a fire in the southern port city, which Kyiv’s forces recaptured last month.
Journalists saw several bodies lying on the street, including a man killed in his car. Rescuers and police officers were seen comforting a man in tears next to a lifeless woman.
Severely injured residents lay on the ground, medics tending to them.
Standing next to her husband’s corpse and holding his blood-soaked jacket, a woman cried: “The medics tried [to save him], but there was no pulse.”
Despite Russia’s retreat from the city, Kherson remains within reach of Moscow’s weaponry and under constant threat.
Zelenskiy called the attack “terror ... killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure.”
“It is the real life of Ukraine... The world must see and understand what absolute evil we are fighting against,” he said on Telegram.
Kherson Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said on Telegram that 10 people had died and 55 were wounded in the attack on the city, with 18 in a serious condition.
Sixty-six cars caught fire in a residential area of the city due to the shelling, emergency services said.
The fires were put out after 40 minutes, but the number of dead and injured was still being “established,” they said on Telegram.
In an address to the nation to mark Christmas Eve, Zelenskiy urged his compatriots to persevere through a tough winter, despite the absence of dead or exiled loved ones, power cuts, destruction and the threat of shelling.
“Tears will be replaced by joy, despair will be followed by hope, and death will be conquered by life,” he said. “We will celebrate our holidays. As always. We will smile and be happy. As always. The difference is one: We will not wait for a miracle, because we create it ourselves.”
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