Russia could yet open a second front in Europe before the war in Ukraine concludes, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper. The Russian military’s failure to achieve real successes would be a contributing factor, he contends.
“We must forget the prevailing belief in Europe that Putin wants to occupy Ukraine first and only then send troops elsewhere. He can do both at the same time,” Zelenskyy stressed in an interview.
The Ukrainian leader said the intrusion of Russian drones into Polish airspace and over airports in Copenhagen, Munich, and Brussels was a sign of the Russian military’s inability to make significant progress on the front. “Putin is in a no-win situation when it comes to real success. It’s more of an impasse. Therefore, these setbacks may prompt him to seek other territories”, he suggested.
Because Russia is a large and aggressive country, it requires a strong external adversary, he maintained, and currently the West and the US fit the bill. “Friendship with Russia is not an option for America. In terms of values, Ukraine is much closer to the United States than Russia”, he asserted.
Zelenskyy said he is working closely with international partners to support Ukraine’s troops.
The Guardian had pointedly noted how Britain and other allies had ruled out sending their fighter jets to patrol the airspace over western and central Ukraine. Zelenskyy told the newspaper that he hoped to order 27 Patriot air defence systems from their American manufacturer. In the meantime, he would like European countries to loan Ukraine their Patriots.
Zelenskyy concurred that he would welcome British troops were they to come to Ukraine and take up defensive positions along the border with Belarus. However, he did say that “a European military presence in Ukraine at a time of ongoing fighting must be treated with caution”, said the Guardian.
He believed that the leaders of the allied countries “do not want to engage in war” out of fear of rousing public criticism domestically. Should he push too hard on this issue, he was aware that Kyiv stood to lose “the financial and military support of its current partners”, he said.
