Ukraine is dedicated to diplomacy regardless of Russian violation: Zelenskyy

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned in a televised handle early Tuesday morning native time that his authorities will not react to provocation from Russia, however added that “we won’t give something to anybody.”

“We’re devoted to diplomatic technique of fixing this difficulty. We’re not reacting to any provocations,” Zelenskyy mentioned within the broadcast, after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered forces into jap Ukraine.

“That is our selection. We’re on our land. We’re not afraid of anybody and everybody,” he mentioned, in keeping with a transcript by NBC Information.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday night introduced he would acknowledge the independence of two breakaway areas in jap Ukraine. Putin issued a decree calling for forces to enter Donetsk and Luhansk — it stays unclear what that mission entails.

World leaders condemned the transfer.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed an government order prohibiting new funding, commerce and financing by U.S. individuals to, from, or within the so-called Donetsk Individuals’s Republic and Luhansk Individuals’s Republic areas. European leaders referred to as Putin’s announcement a “blatant violation of worldwide legislation.”

“We do not owe something to anybody, and we won’t give something to anybody,” Zelenskyy mentioned.

The Ukrainian president referred to as Moscow’s motion “a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and urged its allies to offer help.

“We have to see who’re our pals and companions, and who continues to frighten the Russia Federation with simply phrases,” he mentioned. “We’re devoted to diplomatic technique of fixing this difficulty.”

Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine is not the identical nation it was eight years in the past, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, triggering battle within the Donetsk and Luhansk areas which continues to this present day.

“It is not February of 2014. It is February of 2022,” he mentioned.

“It is a completely different nation. It is a completely different military, [but] the identical function is peace.”

In response to NBC Information, along with Ukraine’s standing army that is greater than 200,000-strong, the nation also can mobilize some 300,000 troopers — and 130,000 of them would kind new territorial protection battalions.

Greater than half of Ukrainians would battle if Russia invades, in keeping with a December survey by the Kyiv Worldwide Institute of Sociology, NBC reported.

— CNBC’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.