President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi believes that the battle for the east of Ukraine and the Donbass can be decisive in the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. The head of state spoke about this in an interview with Simon Schuster for Time magazine.
Zelenskyi noted that Ukraine is now dealing with a serious danger in many areas. At the moment, a significant part of our army is concentrated in the east and south of the country.
– It will be a full-scale battle, larger than any that we have seen on the territory of Ukraine. They can move towards the maximum occupation of our territory, towards the encirclement of our most significant grouping of forces in the east. They have a desire to do it, – the president said.
According to him, the Russians will try to inflict maximum destruction, because they understand that “this is our core” and this will affect the dialogue.
– If we endure, which I sincerely believe in as a citizen, patriot and president of this country, this will be a decisive moment for us. A turning point, – Zelenskyi said.
The President says that he daily communicates with the military under siege in Mariupol inside the Azovstal metallurgical plant. He noted that many guys had already died, and there were hundreds of wounded.
– First of all, it is about what they hold and hold on to, knowing for what. It’s not just about some piece of the plant, Azovstal or even Mariupol. This is the symbolism of this situation. This is the desire (of the enemy – Ed.) to break one of the bones in our back.
He added that for the Russians it is a kind of symbol. That is why they continue to “play bloody little games“. Their goal is to humiliate a person as much as possible, to force him to die of hunger in order to force him to “bargain with our wounded“. Zelenskyi added that the government is now working on the issue of evacuating civilians from Azovstal and hopes that we will succeed.