Zelenskyy appeals for ‘stronger, more destructive’ sanctions; Ukraine infrastructure damage hinders aid efforts

Ukraine’s roads and other infrastructure have been badly damaged by Russian troops, and that is now posing a significant challenge in delivering humanitarian aid to some areas, said the U.K.’s Defence Ministry in its daily intelligence update.

“Road infrastructure in conflict affected areas of Ukraine has sustained significant damage. Russian troops have exacerbated this by destroying bridges, employing land mines and abandoning vehicles along key routes as they withdrew from northern Ukraine,” the ministry said in its update, posted on Twitter.

River crossings in and around the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv have been destroyed, leaving only one pedestrian bridge in the city, the update said.

“Damage to Ukraine’s transport infrastructure now presents a significant challenge in delivering humanitarian aid to areas formerly besieged by Russia,” the ministry tweeted.

— Weizhen Tan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he’s been hearing different predictions about how long the war with Russia will last.

“Some say a few weeks. Others — several years. Some say the war will last until the end of this year. And someone advises to prepare for a permanent confrontation with Russia as long as it exists,” he said in his nightly address to the nation.

But Zelenskyy says the “effectiveness of instruments of influence” on Russia used by Ukraine as well as its entire anti-war coalition against Russia must be taken into account, when predicting how long the war will last.

“The success of our military on the battlefield is really significant. Historically significant. But not enough to clean our land from the occupiers yet. We’ll beat them more,” he said.

“Sanctions against Russia are very significant. Economically painful. But still not enough for the Russian military machine to be left without means of subsistence. We promote stronger, more destructive ones,” Zelenskyy said.

These two areas, he says, will determine how long this war will last. The amount of support for Ukraine “literally defines how many more Ukrainians the occupiers will manage to kill.”

“If someone says: year or years, I answer: you can make the war much shorter. The more and the sooner we get all the weapons we have requested, the stronger our position will be and the sooner peace will come,” he said. “The sooner the democratic world recognizes that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end.”

— Weizhen Tan