President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during the Madeleine Albright Democracy Awards ceremony that Ukraine and the free world should not exchange their values for compromises, while the dictatorship is afraid to admit its mistakes and tempts with a respite in fighting.
– On February 23, 2022, Madeleine Albright published a column that the Russian leader was making a historic mistake. Those were prophetic words. He really made a mistake – the biggest in his life and in the lives of modern generations of Russians,” the Ukrainian president emphasized.
He noted that it was an idea-fix of any dictatorship to ignore mistakes and pretend that they had never happened.
– This is exactly how Russia behaves. Obviously, the dictator has lost. However, he is doing everything to keep Russia fighting, just to avoid admitting to himself and others that a historic mistake was made. If Russia feels cornered, it has only itself to blame,” Zelenskyy said.
The President added that it is necessary to defend freedom and guarantee the protection of democracy – Ukraine and the rest of the free world must receive guarantees of peace and stability.
– Those who started an unprovoked and criminal war must lose and bear responsibility,” he said.
The Head of State emphasized that any option other than the victory of Ukraine would be a mistake.
