Ukraine’s top presidential adviser, Mikhail Podoliak, stressed Tuesday that «the issue of arms deliveries is key» to enable further Ukrainian Army advances and called for the delivery of long-range missiles to be able to strike Russian positions farther away in the framework of the war, unleashed on February 24, 2022 on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
«We need long-range missiles,» Podoliak said in an interview to RNE picked up by Europa Press in which he explained that «after effectively using HIMARS systems, Russia has changed the position of its ammunition stores, projectiles and projectile bases, a hundred or 150 kilometers away so that they are out of range.»
«We need long-range missiles to be able to fight these structures because Russia is fighting with a large number of mobilized people and a large number of projectiles. If we manage to eliminate this, it will be effective,» he said, before stressing the need for the delivery of heavy battle tanks «to accelerate disengagement and bring about the right end to the war.»
Thus, he pointed out that Kiev needs between 250 and 400 heavy tanks «to be able to equip several army brigades and to be able to advance», while he highlighted progress in «closing the Ukrainian skies to protect the energy infrastructure» through the use of anti-aircraft defense systems. «We are achieving that,» he stressed.
Podoliak stressed that Russia maintains «a rather simple tactic» in the war and pointed out that «it doesn’t matter who leads the occupation operation,» after Russia replaced Sergei Surovikin with General Valeri Gerasimov as the head of the Russian forces deployed in Ukraine.
«It doesn’t matter the change of general,» he said, before denouncing that Moscow has «several strategies» in the war: «missile attacks all over the country; attacks against energy infrastructure with the aim of breaking the Ukrainian integrity and generating a deficit of water and heating so that people freeze and have problems and generate psychological pressure; and mobilize many people, but without sufficient preparation».
«They want to attack in numerical superiority and will continue to do so, especially in Lugansk and Donetsk,» he has argued, before indicating that Moscow «have used a lot of shells and ammunition.» «They have used almost all their arsenal and their reserve, even old artillery systems and old tanks from the Soviet Union,» he pointed out.
In this sense, he has pointed to a change of «attitude» on the part of Western countries towards Ukraine regarding the war and has argued that «to persuade someone, you have to have a logical explanation». «In the first months of war there was another attitude, but now European countries understand that you cannot end the war as it was done in 2014 and that Russia cannot continue to act politically as before,» he has said.
«There is a common understanding that the war needs to be ended as Ukraine needs. Before they were afraid of Russia, of badmouthing Russia, of escalation of the conflict. Now they have another concept. They understand that if they don’t support Ukraine, it will be the other way around. Everything must be done to help Ukraine. In that case there will be no escalation. The more weapons they give to Ukraine, the more the situation will improve,» he said.
GERMANY «HAS ALREADY CHANGED ITS MIND».
However, he has acknowledged the doubts in Germany about the war and pointed out that «it is perhaps the most conservative country.» «Since 1997 it has been an important partner of Russia, especially in the energy sphere,» he said, before indicating that, on the other hand, Berlin «has already changed its mind.» «It is necessary for Germany to be a European leader,» he indicated.
Podoliak also avoided commenting on the resignation of the German Minister of Defense, Christine Lambrecht, following the controversy unleashed in the country as a result of a greeting video published on New Year’s Eve in which she spoke of the war in Ukraine with fireworks and firecrackers in the background. «It doesn’t matter who his successor will be,» he said, before arguing that if German Chancellor Olaf Scholz supports a certain position on the conflict, «the whole government will support it.»
Podoliak further stated that «Russia is not proposing negotiations, it is proposing an ultimatum and wants to keep the occupied territories, dictate its conditions, dominate in Europe». «The European countries have realized this,» he said, before reiterating that «negotiations can be started only after fully vacating the territories, including the areas that were occupied in 2014.»
«Russia must suffer a military defeat. Only after this will it understand that you cannot act in this way, that you cannot enter the territory of other countries, that you cannot kill people. It will have to pay reparations for decades and there will also be a need for a court to try war criminals and those responsible for unleashing this war,» he said.
The advisor to the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, pointed out that in these possible peace talks «the demilitarized zone will also be discussed, because the Russian army with tanks cannot be near the border of any country». «Food security, nuclear security, the security zone in the Black Sea will also be discussed», although he stressed that «if some Russian military are still on Ukrainian territory, the war can be considered not finished and that at any time in the future it can continue».
Finally, he has shown his gratitude to Spain for the «help» provided to Kiev in the framework of the conflict. «I appreciate everything that Spain does. Spain understands our values and our ideology in this war. Our priorities are the same as those of the European Union (EU): competition, democracy, freedom,» he assured.
«Spain gives help in all possible directions, it has quickly understood that Ukraine is on the right side of the conflict. It helps us with weapons, with air defense, with everything it can. It also helps us in the humanitarian sphere, with money, aid that can be allocated to people who lost their homes and jobs,» he praised.
Podoliak has also emphasized that Madrid «actively helps refugees and also gives us a lot of support in informing about the conflict towards Latin American countries.» «Spain knows that Russia is an aggressor country and it is important, because Russia used to spend a lot of money on this information policy in Latin America», he remarked.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)