Ukrainian soldiers are seen outside Svitlodarsk, Ukraine on February 21, 2022.
Wolfgang Schwan | Anadolu Agency | beautiful pictures
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised address early Tuesday morning local time that his government would not respond to provocations from Russia, but added that “we will not give anything to anyone.”
“We are dedicated to diplomatic means to solve this problem. We do not react to any provocation,” Zelenskyy said in the broadcast, after Russian President Vladimir Putin orders forces to enter eastern Ukraine.
“This is our choice. We’re on our own. We’re not afraid of anyone and everyone,” he said, according to an NBC News transcript.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Monday night announced he would recognition of the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. Putin issued a decree calling for forces to enter Donetsk and Luhansk – it is not yet clear what that mission entails.
World leaders condemn this move.
US President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning new investment, commerce and finance by Americans to, from, or in the regions known as the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. European leaders called Putin’s announcement a “flagrant violation of international law.”
We need to see who our friends and partners are, and who continues to terrify the Russian Federation with words alone.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
“We don’t owe anyone anything, and we won’t give anyone anything,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president called Moscow’s actions a “violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, and called on allies to assist.
“We need to see who our friends and partners are, and who continues to terrify the Russian Federation with words alone,” he said. “We are dedicated to diplomatic means to solve this problem.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is not the same country as it was eight years ago, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, causing conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that continues to this day.
“It’s not February 2014. It’s February 2022,” he said.
“It’s a different country. It’s a different army, [but] The same goal is peace. “
According to NBC NewsIn addition to Ukraine’s standing army of more than 200,000 people, the country can also mobilize about 300,000 troops – and 130,000 of them will form new territorial defense battalions.
According to a survey in December by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, NBC reported that more than half of Ukrainians would fight if Russia invaded.
– CNBC’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
