Volodymyr Zelensky knows exactly what he wants from Spain, from the Spanish presidency, from the European Union: that he act as a mediator so that Ukraine is heard in Latin America. “It is a fact that, there, the voice of Spain is heard”, said the Ukrainian president in an interview offered yesterday to La Vanguardia and other Spanish media.
“Political pressure is decisive in this war. If everyone went against Russia, it would not continue with its aggression”, said Zelenski, convinced that the Russian troops can be expelled not only with weapons, but with pressure against the Kremlin. And, in this, the role of Spain in Latin America is important. We will possibly talk about this tomorrow”, he said referring to the visit that the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, is making to Kyiv today.
“I think it is important for Ukraine to be heard abroad and I could go there to speak”, he reiterated when he commented on the possibility of attending the summit between the EU and Latin America that will take place in Brussels on the 17 and July 18.
Zelenski and Brazilian President Lula da Silva spoke virtually months ago, but found no common ground. He wants to try again and believes that the solution is not just to talk to Latin American leaders, many of whom claim to maintain a position of neutrality: he wants to meet them personally.
He knows that fighting Russian propaganda is a titanic task. He also knows that a large part of Latin American society supports the Ukrainians against the invasion, and that is why he believes that it would be best to directly address the population on this side of the world. But there is a problem: no country has invited him.
“It is important that Latin America, China, India, among others, join the peace formula for the pressure to work”, insisted Zelenski, who thanked Spain for its support from the beginning of the large scale invasion. “Ukraine trusts Spain”, he said, and recalled that the two countries defend the same values, simple things like the house, the children, the family.
“We are normal people who want to live a normal life”, he said in the interview that lasted an hour. “Without Ukraine, I don’t think that NATO is NATO”, the Ukrainian president also said, stressing that it is impossible to think today about the possibility that the Atlantic Alliance does not count on Ukraine.
“We are powerful, as we have shown, we have practice and an army with experience”, he said, and recalled the creativity of the Ukrainians to look for alternatives in their defense. “We have many people willing to produce new technologies”, he said. He gave as an example maritime drones, which are much cheaper than ships and which help the defense of the coasts.
He talked about the threats against his life. At first he said that his life was no more in danger than the soldiers at the front. But then he reflected and assured that “only Russia wants to kill me; to Putin, everyone”.
The president went so far as to talk about a possible world war if Russia wins. “If Ukraine does not resist and Russia advances towards Poland or the Baltic countries, this would mean the third world war”, he warned. Placing Kyiv under the cloak of NATO is the best way, he understands, to show Putin that “there is no fear of any aggressor”.
“We would like to receive the invitation [to join NATO] in Vilnius”, acknowledges the president of Ukraine, referring to the Lithuanian capital, where the Alliance will hold its next summit on July 11 and 12. “NATO is the biggest guarantee of security” in the face of the open conflict with the Russian invasion. “We do not accept any other alternative”, Zelenski insisted on integration into the organization.
He spoke of the counter-offensive and the need to continue with the support of allied countries. “I know that some partners may be in a hurry for this offensive to go faster, but for us the important thing is the men”, said Zelenski, and that he prefers that the counter-offensive be extended in time, even four or five months, to protect his people, whom he described as a “treasure”.
“The most important thing is to save lives, if a land is mined, you cannot send people there to die. We can’t do it because our partners are in a hurry”, he said. He was emphatic stating that the most important thing is to be cautious, and the motivation of his men, which is “high”.
“Human life is the most valuable,” he insisted minutes before describing how the Russian paramilitary forces of the Wagner Group operated before being withdrawn. He remembered the waves of men Wagner sent to the front like cannon fodder: if they fell back and turned back, his officers would kill them.
Commenting on this, Zelenski paused to explain that during the Battle of Bakhmut, led from Russian positions by these paramilitary forces, around 21,000 Russians were killed and around 80,000 more were wounded. Almost 100,000 men were out of action.
“These are fundamental losses”, said the Ukrainian president, thus responding to some criticism made from abroad about the importance of fiercely fighting for Bakhmut. “Killing mercenaries in eastern Ukraine was also part of the counter-offensive. It served to demoralize the enemy”, he said.
He was also asked about the dead and wounded on the Ukrainian side, which, like in Russia, are not made public. “Their families know it,” he said. He explained that they have access to the figures, and that there is clearly a difference between dead and wounded on both sides. “The figures are clear, they have many more”.
As for civilian deaths and injuries, he stated that it is not possible to talk about specific numbers because there is still more than a third of the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia and it is not known how many people are in mass graves, how many in fields, how many are hijacked. In the liberated territories where life has returned to almost normal levels, such as Butxa, Erpin, Borodianca, even today they continue to find graves and tortured people in basements.
One of the immediate challenges is to know what will happen to Wagner’s forces that will be based in neighboring Belarus. Zelensky calculates several scenarios. “They can attack Ukraine from there, they can create sabotage groups against the Atlantic Alliance, especially Poland”, he says, specifying that it is still too early to know.
What he did make clear is that this “hybrid” war, as he defined it, is being fought on different fronts: the information field, politics and the battlefield.
“I don’t think they are a threat, but we will follow what happens there carefully,” said Zelenski, who drew attention to Russia’s need to find culpable characters to justify no victories on the battlefield.
“They have to motivate society,” he added, referring to what happened with Prighozin, his fight against the Russian Defense Minister, Shoigu, and his challenge to Putin. “We must take advantage of this to expel them”, he said.
But the threats at a time when Russia is facing both this internal crisis and the Ukrainian counter-offensive are not few. The main one, perhaps, is the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The head of Ukrainian Intelligence has assured that the plant is mined and that there could be a nuclear leak. Zelenski warned yesterday of the threat that Russia wants to use an eventual leak to be able to freeze the war.
“It’s what he’s looking for, he needs time to strengthen his army”, he said. And he recalled that a year ago they made public information about a possible attack on the Kakhovka dam. They fear that the same could now happen with the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.
“We talk to Rafael Grossi [Secretary of the Atomic Energy Organization], but he cannot do anything alone. He needs the support of the world. If they all come together, they can influence Russia to hand over control of the plant”, assured the president.
In the end, Zelensky was in a hurry, as always. This is the life of a president at war who remembers that there are no weekends.
