Possible Russian escalation to have major consequences, important for Russia, EU to understand this -Zelensky
The Russian Federation and some European countries need to realize the scale of Russia's possible military escalation of Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the issue while speaking to the media following the talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, the president's press service reports.
"What I hear is that most countries of the European Union and the Eastern Partnership support Ukraine's position. Everyone understands that the price will be very high. But no one even imagines the number of casualties and the number of lives to be lost. Nobody wants that. I’m not sure all European leaders have the same understanding (of this situation. - ed.) because not all leaders, unfortunately, have the same understanding in general of what’s happening on our borders," Zelensky said.
Therefore, Volodymyr Zelensky noted, every time a leader of a European country visits Ukraine, he invites them to come to Donbas, to the contact line, and see everything for themselves.
"It is on the contact line in Donbas that you can see what’s really going on. Both the military and civilians can tell a lot, especially in the settlements that had been occupied and then liberated. They understand the difference, they understand the price of war," the president said.
In his opinion, the most important thing is that Russia understands this price.
"That’s because they will lose people, too. God forbid. After all, we believe in the diplomatic format of talks," the president of Ukraine stressed.
For his part, Jens Stoltenberg noted that Ukraine, like all sovereign states, has the right to defend itself, as stated in the UN Charter.
He noted that NATO supports Ukraine, including by providing advisers, instructors, equipment, conducting joint exercises and more.
If there’s aggression against Ukraine in the future, it will have severe consequences and come at a very high price, according to the secretary general of the Alliance.
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