When the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in an interview with The Washington Post, he said that Russia could occupy Kharkiv, and “it is feasible and can happen,” he simply gave an example, offered a hypothetical scenario, Sergey Nikiforov, the press secretary of the Ukrainian leader, explained.
“I think that the replicating ones did not read the text of the interview, but pull out this phrase. It seems to me that this paragraph is self-sufficient and does not need clarification,” the Ukrainian edition of NV quotes Nikiforov as saying.
According to the press secretary, the president was just “thinking about the escalation”, he did not mean that Kharkiv would really be occupied.
Meanwhile, Zelensky’s statement greatly excited Kharkiv residents. The mayor of the city, Igor Terekhov, appealed to residents not to panic. He assured that Kharkiv was ready to fight back any potential invaders.
The Ukrainian president, in an interview with The Washington Post, stated, in particular, that Russian attempt to capture Kharkov will be the beginning of large-scale hostilities. “And there will be a pretext: they will say that they are protecting the Russian-speaking population,” Zelensky said. Another scenario, in his opinion, could be the seizure of territories to the north of Crimea in order to improve its water supply and provide communication by land.
But Zelensky is convinced that the majority of Ukrainians do not support the policies of the President of Russia Vladimir Putintherefore, it is impossible to establish a government controlled by Moscow for a long time in Ukraine. “People just won’t accept him,” the Ukrainian president said.