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‘A million Russians arguing in gasoline lines’ should think hard about what comes next, Zelensky warns

Source: Alexey Shaposhnikov

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. “In 2022, the deadlines were March 31, then May 9, June 1, September 15, and December 31,” Zelensky said.

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 noted that a day earlier, the Russian side had voiced “a clear desire to fight.” “Therefore, we need to create as many obstacles as possible to the desire to keep fighting,” the Ukrainian leader concluded.

This likely refers to Vladimir Putin’s recent remarks to the propagandist Pavel Zarubin. Putin said that Ukraine had come forward with a new peace proposal. According to him, it would mean both sides halting strikes deep into each other’s territory. The Kremlin rejected the proposal.


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