Zelenskyy explains why and how hard Ukraine strikes Russia's energy sector
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Russia's energy sector is a legitimate target, but Kyiv is not yet able to retaliate to Russian attacks with equivalent force.
Source: Zelenskyy speaking with teaching staff and students at Kyiv Aviation Institute; a video released by the Ukrainian President's Office
Quote: "We do not have to choose – whether we strike a military target or an energy [facility]. He [the enemy] sells this energy. He sells oil. So is it an energy [facility], or is it a military target? Honestly, it's the same thing. He sells oil, takes the money, invests it in weapons. And with those weapons, he kills Ukrainians.
What is a Ukrainian supposed to do? There are two ways. We either build weapons to strike their weapons, or we strike the source where their money is generated and multiplied. And that source is their energy sector. That is what is happening. All of this is a legitimate target for us.
And who else could have done this to the Russians before us? No one."
Details: Zelenskyy said that Russian forces strike Ukraine's energy sector in an attempt to break the society.
Quote: "This is a task of hybrid war – to split society and weaken it, break it. If you break the civilians, the military will collapse, at least the risk [of it] is high. That is what the enemy does. So what does Ukraine do? When they attack our energy systems, we hit theirs. They can't live with electricity, in comfort and calm, while we are freezing and, frankly speaking, only losing. They get a response. Do we respond on the same scale? No, [because] we don't have the resources they do."
More details: Zelenskyy said the technologies and production capacity accumulated by Russia are in part a legacy of the entire Soviet Union. He also recalled Ukraine's choice to relinquish its nuclear arsenal.
Quote: "The accumulated knowledge, technologies and companies they have are the long way the whole USSR [came], including Ukraine and Ukraine in all its diversity. Ukraine was patriotic and there were many traitors. It was the same with the technologies that were passed on. Not only were aircraft cut up, but technologies and weapons were also handed over and so on. Kolchugas were given away, everything was sold and nuclear weapons were handed over. Do we support nuclear war? No. But which nuclear state today is under occupation? None. That's the point." [The Kolchuga "Chainmail" passive sensor is an electronic-warfare support measures (ESM) system developed in the Soviet Union and manufactured in Ukraine.]
"Do we have to respond in kind? We do. But do we have the same scale as the Russians? No – they inherited everything from Soviet times. We don't have that, yet we are growing. And we're growing exponentially," Zelenskyy added.
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