The President of Ukraine reacted to Vladimir Putin's speech the day before. «Yesterday everyone heard signals from the Russian leader. Whether it's bravado or madness — it can be explained in any way. But when a killer says he wants to kill, we perceive it accordingly and will respond together with partners. I hope, with all partners», — noted Zelensky.
Zelensky once again emphasized that Ukraine will defend itself because the issue of Ukraine's independence — is a matter of the survival of Ukrainians.
According to him, yesterday Putin staged a benefit performance, in particular, for the United States of America, and he spoke, in the opinion of the Ukrainian president, absolutely frankly. «Yes, he wants all of Ukraine, and he has wanted it not for four years, not since 2014, but for a long time, — he is shaped by Russian imperialism. And when he talks about Ukraine and something there about the legs of Russian soldiers, he also talks about Belarus, the Baltic countries, Moldova, the Caucasus, and countries like Kazakhstan, and all places on earth where Russian killers can reach», — noted Zelensky, adding that «Ukrainian drones will be found for every leg of the Russian occupier».
The day before, at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin stated that he considers the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one people. «In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours», — he concluded.
And in response to the question about the ultimate outcome of the offensive, Putin said that wherever the foot of a Russian soldier steps, it is ours.
Earlier in the morning during a briefing with journalists, Zelensky stated and demonstrated evidence that during the exchange of bodies of deceased soldiers, the Russian side repeatedly handed over to Ukraine citizens of the Russian Federation and other countries, particularly Israel. «It has already been recorded during repatriations that the bodies of 20 people, handed over to us as our deceased soldiers, are Russians», — he said.
According to him, these are not isolated cases, and all of them are documented by the Ukrainian side. «Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports. This means that they themselves cannot even verify whom they are sending, as it is a large number of people. Expertise is needed. And how much time is needed for this, I do not know, to be honest», — emphasized the president.
In Zelensky's opinion, the Russian Federation is thus trying to artificially inflate the number of allegedly deceased Ukrainian fighters, in order to reduce fear of mobilization in its own society. «Because if the moment comes when Putin wants to mobilize someone, — his society will be afraid. But if it is shown that for every soldier there are supposedly a hundred dead Ukrainians, then it supposedly doesn't look so scary», — noted Zelensky.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine does not intend to accept the bodies of Russian soldiers, given as Ukrainian, they will be returned.