Zelensky warns: If war continues, ‘a million Russians arguing in gasoline lines’ should think about what comes next
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s leadership has postponed the deadline for fully capturing Donbas 15 times and warned that if the war does not end, the current deadline will also be pushed back. He also urged the million Russians not yet mobilized, who are ‘arguing in gas lines,’ to consider their future if Putin wants to sacrifice another million soldiers.
Since the start of the full-scale war, Russia's political leadership, which is 'obsessed with Donbas,' has pushed back the deadline for fully capturing this region of Ukraine 15 times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address. This year, he said, Russian authorities once again postponed the date for capturing the Donetsk region. Zelensky listed deadlines from 2022: March 31, May 9, June 1, September 15, and December 31. If Russia does not end the war, this deadline, too, will have to be pushed back, the Ukrainian president added.
'If Putin wants to sacrifice another million of his soldiers to keep smashing against this wall, then the million Russians who have not yet been mobilized into the Russian army and are arguing in gas lines should think about what awaits them next,' Zelensky said. He noted that a day earlier, the Russian side had voiced 'a clear desire to fight,' so Ukraine needs to create as many obstacles as possible to that desire.
This likely refers to Vladimir Putin’s recent remarks to propagandist Pavel Zarubin. Putin said that Ukraine had come forward with a new peace proposal, meaning both sides halting strikes deep into each other’s territory. The Kremlin rejected the proposal.
