Zelenskyy: West has lost sense of war's urgency, Ukrainians of existential threat

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the West has lost its sense of urgency regarding the war in Ukraine, and that many Ukrainians have lost their sense of an existential threat.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with The Economist

Details: According to The Economist, Zelenskyy is exasperated by the hesitations of some of his allies, as well as the detachment among some of his compatriots. He says the West has lost its sense of urgency, and many Ukrainians have lost their sense of the existential threat posed by the war.

Zelenskyy emphasised that by supporting Ukraine, Europe is protecting itself from Russian aggression.

Quote: "Putin feels weakness like an animal because he is an animal. He senses blood, he senses his strength. And he will eat you for dinner with all your EU, NATO, freedom, and democracy."

Details: "Maybe we did not succeed [in 2023] as the world wanted. Maybe not everything is as fast as someone imagined," Zelenskyy said, but the idea that Putin is winning is nothing more than a "feeling". The reality, he said, is that Russian troops are still dying in places like Avdiivka.

"Maybe something is missing. Or maybe someone is missing. Someone who can talk about Ukraine as a defence of all of us," the president added.

Zelenskyy also lamented the fact that the "mobilisation of Ukrainian society and of the world" that was there at the beginning of the war is absent today, and "this needs to be changed".

Quote: "Mobilisation is not just a matter of soldiers going to the front. It is about all of us. It is the mobilisation of all efforts. This is the only way to protect our state and de-occupy our land. Let’s be honest, we have switched to domestic politics [...] If we continue to focus on domestic politics, we need to call elections. Change the law, the constitution. But forget about counter-offensive actions and de-occupation.

The most important profession a Ukrainian can do at the moment is to be in Ukraine…and for our Western partners, it is to be with Ukraine…If you don’t have the strength, then either get out or step aside. We will not retreat."

More details: Regarding proposals for negotiations, Zelenskyy says he sees "no fundamental steps towards peace from Russia". Instead, he and Ukrainians are experiencing a barrage of air attacks on Ukrainian cities in the east, south, north and west.

"I see only the steps of a terrorist country," he said.

And if Russia is sending signals that it wants to freeze the conflict, as some Western media report, "it is not because they are righteous men, but because they don’t have enough missiles, ammunition, or prepared troops. They need this pause. Restore all their strength. And then with all their strength, turn the page of this war."

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