'Tortured' Ukraine wants peace with Russia despite atrocities, says Zelensky
CBC
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that he is committed to pressing for peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world, and he renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons ahead of an expected surge in fighting in the country's east.
He made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press a day after at least 52 people were killed in a strike on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk and as evidence of civilian killings came to light after Russian troops failed to seize the capital, Kyiv, where he has hunkered down.
"No one wants to negotiate with a person or people who tortured this nation. It's all understandable. And as a man, as a father, I understand this very well," Zelensky said. But "we don't want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution."
Wearing the olive drab that has marked his transformation into a wartime leader, he looked visibly exhausted yet animated by a drive to persevere.
"We have to fight, but fight for life. You can't fight for dust when there is nothing and no people. That's why it is important to stop this war," he said.
Russian troops that withdrew from northern Ukraine are now regrouping for what is expected to be an intensified push to retake the eastern Donbas region, including the besieged port city of Mariupol that Ukrainian fighters are striving to defend.
Zelensky said he is confident Ukrainians would accept peace despite the horrors they have witnessed in the more than six-week-long war that began on Feb. 24.
Those included gruesome images of bodies of civilians found in yards, parks and city squares and buried in mass graves in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha after Russian troops withdrew. Ukrainian and Western leaders have accused Moscow of war crimes.
Russia has falsely claimed that the scenes in Bucha were staged. It also put the blame on Ukraine for the attack on the train station as thousands of people rushed to flee ahead of an expected Russian offensive.
Despite hopes for peace, Zelensky acknowledged that he must be "realistic" about the prospects for a swift resolution given that negotiations have so far been limited to low-level talks that do not include Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He spoke to the AP inside the presidential office complex, where windows and hallways are protected by towers of sandbags and heavily armed soldiers.
Zelensky displayed a palpable sense of resignation and frustration when asked whether the supplies of weapons and other equipment his country has received from the United States and other Western nations was enough to turn the tide of the war.
"Not yet," he said, switching to English for emphasis. "Of course it's not enough."
Still, he noted that there has been increased support from Europe and said deliveries of U.S. weapons have been accelerating.
