Zelensky says war of attrition with Russia began in 2014
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with the German TV channel ARD, Ukrinform reports.
"And what kind of wars are there? Are wars generally not wars of attrition? What is the difference between a war of attrition, which lasts 700 days, and a war of attrition, which lasts 1,400 days? Different strata of the population, finances, partners, and military are exhausted. And children? Any war is a tragedy. Any war is attrition. I am the President of Ukraine. I clearly understand how our country lives: from the military to the civilian sector. I believe that the war of attrition began back in 2014, when the occupation of the territories of our state had begun," Zelensky said.
According to him, the occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine was already the exhaustion of the Ukrainian economy.
"When the occupation of Donbas began, didn't investments start falling and money started to be withdrawn from our state? They did. And the money was withdrawn, our revenues decreased. The economy was depleted, there was no money for reconstruction, for building our state, for life, social support, etc.," Zelensky said.
He added that as far as human losses are concerned, in the first year of the full-scale war, Russia treated its people like meat. He said he was not sure if it is even a question of Russia's attrition.
"They don't care: a million, two or three die. And now in Avdiivka, the Russians have simply built whole fences from the corpses of their people. They don't even take them away. Is it attrition or not? It's hard to say," Zelensky said.
At the same time, according to him, for example, the insufficient number of bomb shelters is a source of exhaustion for Ukrainian children who do not have normal access to education.
He also recalled that it was Russia that blocked the Ukrainian sea and grain did not reach some African countries, and this is also an exhaustion for these countries and Ukraine.
"Even before this war, we warned that he [Putin] would dump energy resources, and that's what happened. People in Europe started saving energy resources. Is this exhaustion? Yes, it's exhaustion, because it's dependence," he added.
Can this exhaustion be compared with Ukraine, Zelensky asked. "No. Because we pay a higher price. These are human lives," he said.
