Zelenskyy: This year in Vilnius it’s necessary to determine that Ukraine will be NATO member, terror must lose
Russia has detonated a bomb of mass environmental destruction, this is the biggest man-made environmental disaster in Europe for decades, but I am sure that we will find a way to counter Russia's environmental terror, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, addressing the participants of the Bucharest Nine summit on the day when Russia blew up the Kakhovka HPP.
“Unfortunately, Russia has been controlling this dam and the entire Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant for more than a year. And it is physically impossible to blow it up somehow from the outside, by shelling. It was mined. It was mined by the Russian occupiers. And they blew it up,” Zelenskyy said.
As the President of Ukraine stressed, “Russia has detonated a bomb of mass environmental destruction. This is the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades. And it is the most dangerous terrorist in the world. And that is why Russia's defeat – a defeat that we will ensure anyway – will be the most significant contribution to the security of our region, our Europe and the entire world.”
At the same time Zelenskyy noted: “don't we know what constantly fuels Russian revanchism? This is the belief of Russia's rulers that Europe will allegedly show weakness. Weakness is the main hope and bet of terrorists.”
"No more weakness in Europe in relation to the evil of aggression! No more uncertainty about the prospects for security in Europe! Every step we take, every decision we make, every summit we hold should strengthen all of us in our defense against Russian terror. And undoubtedly, the Vilnius NATO Summit should ensure this," the President of Ukraine is sure.
“At this year's NATO Summit in Vilnius, it is time to show that NATO's declared values and real values do not differ,” Zelenskyy noted.
According to the Ukrainian President, “it is necessary to finally establish that Ukraine will be a member of NATO, and this can only be established by an invitation to Ukraine to join. Finally, it is necessary to determine the algorithm of when and as a result of what steps such accession will take place. Finally, security guarantees for Ukraine on its way to NATO should be formalized.”
“When this happens, it will immediately deprive Russian revanchism of its purpose. Those who destroy must be destroyed themselves,” the head of state said.
The Bucharest Nine is an association of nine Central and Eastern European countries created to deepen military cooperation between the countries of the eastern flank of NATO.
The association includes Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
A summit of the leaders of the Bucharest Nine countries will be held in the Romanian capital on June 10. The summit will be hosted by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda.
