Zelenskyy believes Russian drone provocations against Europe are successful

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the drone incidents in EU countries and the violations of European airspace by Russian aircraft are successful steps by Russian leader Vladimir Putin aimed at putting pressure on Europe.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Fox News

Quote: "After these attacks I think those are successful steps of Putin how to put pressure on Europe.

So, the first point: he wanted to see a real reaction of Europe, and I think it was not loud enough, and he didn't see a real reaction.

The second point – not political, very practical: he saw what air defence capabilities are, how Europe is ready for one or another attack. [...] I think yes, it was a test. He saw, he looked at Nordic countries, he looked at the reaction of Poland."

Details: Zelenskyy noted that, according to Ukrainian analysts, Poland had been attacked by either 23 or 19 Russian drones, and the Polish military had managed to shoot down only four of them.

The president suggested that Russia intended "to put pressure on some European countries who are ready to provide Ukraine with support, like air defence during winter, and that's why – you understand for what – to decrease the number of air defence deliveries to Ukraine".

In addition, Zelenskyy described the most dangerous reason behind the drone provocations as Russia's preparation of its own society for aggression against the Baltic states and Poland.

The president drew a parallel with the early stages of Russia's aggression against Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, which did not elicit a strong reaction from the United States, Europe, or the Global South.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "I think this is the most dangerous reason, if I'm right, that he's testing and preparing his society. With Crimea, he began to prepare his Russian society that Crimea could be under occupation. And that's why I think this is very dangerous for Poland and the Baltic states, and other countries. Because we heard not only drones, we heard their messages in the media that 'We think about Baltic states, we think about Poland, we have to think about it.' So they are preparing messages for Russian society. This is dangerous."

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