Zelenskyy says Russia may do something ‘cruel’ come Independence Day
Madrid, Aug 20 (EFE).- Ukraine’s president said Russia may try to do something “particularly cruel” in the coming week, when his country celebrates Independence Day.
“We are actively preparing for the new week, which is very important for all of us, for our country. Our Flag Day, our Independence Day is ahead. The commemoration of veterans of the war for the freedom of Ukraine is ahead,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Saturday night.
“We should be aware that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel. Such is our enemy,” he added. “ But in any other week during these six months, Russia did the same thing all the time – disgusting and cruel.”
Zelenskyy said “one of the key tasks of the enemy is to humiliate us, Ukrainians, to devalue our capabilities, our heroes, to spread despair, fear, to spread conflicts” and urged the Ukrainians to “be strong enough to resist any enemy provocations.”
The Ukrainian president also described this year as “really special” and said that “one can literally feel in the air of Crimea that the occupation there is temporary, and Ukraine is returning.”
In recent weeks, the Ukrainian army has turned to striking behind enemy lines with sabotage attacks in the Donbas, the country’s south and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
On Aug. 9, nine Russian warplanes were reportedly destroyed by a blast at a military airbase in what Kyiv says was a sabotage attack.
On Tuesday, it was the turn of a Crimea munitions storage unit in an attack allegedly carried out by a Ukrainian special forces unit operating deep behind enemy lines. EFE
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