“Russia has already failed to achieve its goals: take away the independence of Ukraine, kill the president, install a puppet regime, take over Kyiv and turn Ukraine into a Russian bay,” secretary Yulia Mendel, 35, told Lusa. Zelensky in the period from 2019 to 2021.
“In one fell swoop, [o Presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin thought that he would take the country, which makes no sense, because Ukraine is the largest territory of freedom in the post-Soviet space, and if someone comes to Kyiv, they will understand that we were never welcome in Russia and we knew that Russia fought in Donbas and annexed Crimea [em 2014] – therefore, it was an enemy – therefore, it would be impossible to obey Russia in any way,” he said.
Mendel, a Kyivian who believes Ukraine will win the war, has just published a book in the US about his experience as part of a team of “comic actor-turned-statesman and statesman-turned-military leader” titled The Fight for Our Lives is Mine. time with Zelensky, Ukraine’s battle for democracy and what it means for the world (“it means for the world”, in free translation), published by One Signal, endorsed by Simon & Schuster, but not yet published. published in Portugal.
“Yes, I believe that we will win this war – I must believe that we will win this war, because I believe in my country and will always believe in my country. We simply have no alternative, this is a battle for our very existence. We must stop him, fight back this brutal invasion. The world cannot be so unfair – justice and freedom must prevail, and we must believe in it, ”he said.
Regarding the ongoing counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces, which have already reclaimed vast tracts of territory from the Russian army, Zelensky’s former adviser was categorical: “All Ukrainians believe that this counter-offensive can produce results; we have a lot of trust in our army and our volunteers and believe that they can bring peace to Ukraine and start rebuilding our territories and bringing back our people.”
“There are 1.2 million Ukrainians who are still under occupation. [russa], it’s a terrible thing. So, on the one hand, we are celebrating the counteroffensive, and on the other hand, our hearts bleed when we see all these mass graves and when we see signs of torture and corpses that the Russians tortured and killed – killed – children, families … “, – noted
“This is a terrible experience, and it is very scary to realize what we find [nos territórios recuperados]what will happen in the territories that are still under Russian occupation,” he added.
As for Putin’s announcement of a partial deployment of reserve soldiers – about 300,000, according to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu – Yulia Mendel called it a desperate measure.
“Putin’s announcement of partial mobilization is actually a sign of desperation, because he realized that he had achieved everything possible with the number of troops that he had been preparing for about ten months and that this was not enough – and, of course, it is scary that he is going to mobilize people from the occupied territories and send the Ukrainians to fight the Ukrainians. Let’s see how it goes…”, he commented.
On the other hand, he pointed out, this announcement of the mobilization of reservists provoked in Russia what Zelensky’s former press secretary interpreted as a “positive sign.”
“A positive sign is that we see how part of the Russians are rising up and taking to the streets against the mobilization. Sure, it’s a bit cynical of them to agree to kill Ukrainians rather than go to the front lines and get killed, but at least it’s a sign of hope that the decisions of this 23-year-old dictator are opening cracks in his regime. which gives some hope,” he stressed.
“The bloodier it is, the more people he sends there, the bloodier this war will be,” which will provoke further protests from the Russian population, he added, as they have already set fire to several recruiting stations with Molotov cocktails. after the announcement of the mobilization of reservists, after the Russian security forces had already begun to detain more than a thousand protesters in about 40 cities of the country.
As for Putin’s speech Wednesday, in which he made a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons and said, “That’s not a bluff,” a former Zelenskiy adviser said she didn’t know “what to think about whether Putin is really considering starting a Third World War.” “
“I think the world is trying to do everything not to repeat this kind of past experience (the use of nuclear weapons), but in fact there are already some parallels with the Second World War, such as the practices of genocide and the crisis of artificially created famines… That is why Ukraine is fighting for our lives and asks the world to increase its aid, citing war, sanctions, resources, weapons, training, humanitarian aid and refugee aid.”
Yulia Mendel ends her book with “special gratitude to all those who understand that Ukraine is not a country of the past.”
“We are the future. We broke the fetters of the post-Soviet space and became a territory of freedom. And now everyone knows,” he wrote.
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