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President Volodymyr Zelensky said that despite the atrocities carried out by Russian troops on the Ukrainian people, including the bombing of a train station where more than 50 civilians were killed, he will continue to press for peace.
“No one wants to negotiate with a person or people who tortured this nation. It’s all understandable. And as a man, as a father, I understand this very well,” Zelensky told the Associated Press in an interview published on Sunday.
But “we don’t want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution,” he said.
“We have to fight, but fight for life. You can’t fight for dust when there is nothing and no people. That’s why it is important to stop this war,” the Ukrainian leader told the wire service.
Zelensky, wearing his typical attire of olive drab to indicate his government’s shift to a military footing, sat down for the interview a day after at least 52 people — including five children — were killed in a missile attack on a train station in the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk where thousands had hoped to flee the ferocious fighting.
Images showed bodies strewn among pieces of luggage and burned out vehicles.
Next to the station, the charred remains of a rocket could be seen with the words “for the children” written on it in Russian.
The attack on the crowded train station happened just days after the bodies of Ukrainians — many of them shot execution-style while bound – were found littering the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, after Russian troops left the area.
The Russian forces that withdrew from the Kyiv area are now believed to be reassembling in preparation for a full-scale attack in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, including in the port city of Mariupol, where Ukrainians have been trying to hold on to sections of the city.
Zelensky said those Ukrainian fighters are tying up “a big part of the enemy forces,” noting that their efforts in Mariupol are “the heart of the war” right now.
“It’s beating. We’re fighting. We’re strong. And if it stops beating, we will be in a weaker position,” he said.
But Zelensky appeared frustrated by the slow pace and limited amount of military equipment being supplied by the US and its European allies, saying he’s grateful for the weapons received so far, but much more is needed.
Asked whether the equipment has helped Ukraine turn the tide, he answered, “Not yet.”
“Of course it’s not enough,” he continued in English, the AP said.
The question about weapons – what effect their delivery had for his people and whether getting them earlier would have saved more lives – forced Zelensky to look inward.
“Very often we look for answers in someone else, but I often look for answers in myself. Did we do enough to get them?” he said of the military equipment. “Did we do enough for these leaders to believe in us? Did we do enough?”
He paused.
“Are we the best for this place and this time? Who knows? I don’t know. You question yourself,” he said.
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