Zelensky: Russian invaders aim to destroy any basis for normal life of Ukrainians

“The goal of Russian troops in this war is to completely destroy any basis for the normal life of the Ukrainian people. The occupiers are deliberately making sure that nothing is left of Ukraine. Only ruins. Only refugees,” President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video address to the Parliament of Denmark, the Folketing.

He noted that the intensity and brutality of the hostilities Russians waging against Ukraine had reached a level even higher than during World War II, the most devastating war for Europe.

“A month of hostilities – and we already have not one or two, but a whole black list of cities that were completely destroyed by Russian bombing. In dozens of other cities, towns and small villages, residential areas were partially burned, infrastructure was destroyed and enterprises where people worked were blown up. Living, ordinary people,” Zelensky said.

As noted, the Russian invaders have already destroyed 773 educational institutions – universities, schools, kindergartens – and dozens of hospitals, churches, even memorials to Holocaust victims have become targets.

The President pointed out that more than 10 million Ukrainians had already fled their homes due to the hostilities and almost 4 million Ukrainians, most of them women and children, had left Ukraine.

“There are still many burned and shot cars on the roadsides in the areas where the Russian military came. Hundreds and hundreds of such cars, what’s left of them. The occupiers were killing civilians even when they were just trying to escape!” Zelensky said.

On February 24, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Russian troops have been shelling civilians, including with prohibited weapons, using civilians as "human shields," and so on. Ukraine filed a lawsuit against the Russian Federation at the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Photo credit: President's Office

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