Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that even with Kim Jong-un by his side, Putin “remains smaller” than the combined states of Europe, and warned that the number of North Korean troops deployed on Ukraine’s border could increase.
Zelenskiy claimed that at present there are 11,000 North Koreans troops deployed, but this contingent, he said, could increase to 100,000.
Zelenskiy did not elaborate further, but his remarks appear to endorse a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources saying that North Korea could deploy 100,000 troops to assist Russia against Ukraine.
The short speech marked 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion and was intended as a rallying call to EU nations. Zelenskiy told lawmakers that even with North Korea Russian president Vladimir Putin remained smaller than “the united states of Europe”.
Zelenskiy also appeared to make a dig at the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who recently triggered snap elections, and has long frustrated Kyiv with Germany’s slow pace of military support and its refusal to supply German-made long-range Taurus missiles.
“While some European leaders think about some elections or something like this … Putin is focused on winning this war. He will not stop on his own. The more time he has, the worse the conditions become,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine’s president appeared to make a veiled appeal for long-range weapons, saying that without “certain key factors, Russia will lack real motivation to engage in meaningful negotiations”. Zelenskiy enumerated those factors as fires in ammunition depots on Russian territory, disrupting military logistics and destroying Russian airbases.
In the lame duck days of his presidency Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to use US-made long-range missiles, but Scholz continues to rule that out and is not expected to change his mind.
The Ukrainian president, speaking at the European parliament via video link, said that during the course of the war it has been proved that “our shared European values” are “not just words, not something abstract.”
He said, “European values and the European way of life, when transformed into action, protect the lives of real people.”
Zelenskiy continued “Putin does not value people or rules. He values only money and power. These are the things we must take away from him to restore peace.”
He told MEPs “No one can enjoy calm waters during a storm, and we must do everything to end this war fairly and justly.”
He made his regular appeal for more sanctions and the release of funds and assets confiscated by European countries from Russia.
In what appeared to be a reference to US permission to use longer-range missiles at targets inside Russia, Zelenskiy said:
Russia will lack real motivation to engage in meaningful [peace] negotiations without fires in its ammunition depots on Russian territory, without disruption to its military logistics, without destroying Russian airbases, without it losing capabilities to produce missiles and drones, and without its assets being confiscated.
Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, has said that Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people have been an inspiration during the 1,000 days of the Russian invasion. Introducing Ukrainian president Zelenskiy before his address to the European parliament, said “this European parliament has stood with Ukraine for 1,000 days, and we will continue to do so for as long as it takes”. She has then shown a short video about the last 1,000 days of war.
Zelenskiy received two standing ovations from MEPs, as he spoke to mark 1,000 days of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine.
But not all MEPs were there. The 25 MEPs who make up the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations group were absent because they had scheduled an “external group meeting” a spokesperson said.
The group’s largest continent is Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland party, which wants to end military aid for Ukraine and whose senior leaders have spoken approvingly of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Source: The Guardian
