KYIV (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday didn’t rule out a full-blown warfare with Russia however mentioned Ukraine was not a sinking Titanic and accused Washington and media of fuelling panic that weighed on the financial system whereas there have been “no tanks within the streets”.
He spoke after Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned the United States and NATO had not addressed the Kremlin’s predominant safety calls for within the East-West standoff over Ukraine, however that Moscow was able to maintain speaking.
Speaking at a information convention for overseas media, Zelenskiy mentioned: “There are not any tanks within the streets. But media give the impression, if one just isn’t right here, that we’ve got a warfare, that we’ve got military within the streets… That’s not the case. We do not want this panic.”
“I do not think about the scenario now extra tense than earlier than,” he mentioned, however added: “I’m not saying an escalation just isn’t attainable.”
He mentioned the White House was making a “mistake” in highlighting excessively the chance of a large-scale warfare, and that this was the message he gave U.S. President Joe Biden of their cellphone name on Thursday.
While he mentioned Russia was making an attempt to intimidate and destabilise Ukraine, Kyiv was propping up its hryvnia forex with FX reserves, in addition to searching for navy, political and financial assist from the West.
He mentioned the nation wanted 4-5 billion {dollars} to stabilise its financial system, together with by means of overseas investments, welcoming a 1.2 billion euros help bundle from the European Union.
“NO TITANIC”
Zelenskiy mentioned Russia ought to show that it was not searching for a warfare with Ukraine by agreeing to an alternate of prisoners. But he mentioned essentially the most rapid threat for his nation was chaos inside, from cyber assaults to an financial disaster.
U.S. and British strikes to recall diplomats had been a mistake and an exaggeration, he mentioned: “We are not any Titanic. Ukraine is shifting forward.”
He mentioned NATO was the one guarantor of laborious safety Ukraine had in its stand-off with Russia, warning that the navy alliance’s jap members may also be uncovered to hostile techniques by Moscow.
“This is a really severe problem for NATO. Some European nations assume: let’s not threat, let’s not take Ukraine in. But, if a full-blown warfare begins, it is going to additionally happen on the borders of some NATO nations.”
“If there may be main warfare, will probably be not solely towards Ukraine, not solely on the territory of our nation,” he mentioned.
He criticised Germany for pursuing the Nord Stream 2 gasoline pipeline, accusing it of prioritising enterprise offers with Russia over Ukraine’s safety and territorial integrity.
He additionally named Britain amongst nations permitting cash laundering by Russians, in addition to by oligarchs siphoning cash from nations together with Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Natalia Zinets; writing by Gabriela Baczynska; enhancing by Angus MacSwan, Raissa Kasolowsky and Philippa Fletcher)
