Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the 1,000th day of the full-scale Russian invasion of his country with a call to push Moscow towards “a just peace.”
Zelensky said that Russian President Vladimir Putin lacked the “real motivation” to engage in genuine peace negotiations in a video address to the European Parliament to thank Ukraine’s supporters.
He pushed for harsher sanctions on Russian ships transporting oil as well as more weapons to hit Russian military targets like ammunition depots to push Putin towards the negotiating table.
The Ukrainian president warned that Putin, in pursuit of victory, could increase the deployment of North Korean troops on Ukraine’s borders from 11,000 to 100,000.
Zelensky also criticized European leaders for their focus on winning elections “at Ukraine’s expense” while Putin is focused on winning the war, a pointed message to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“A thousand days of war is a tremendous challenge,” Zelensky said, praising the European Union and Ukraine’s achievement in defending their values.
“Ukraine deserves to make the next year, the year of peace,” he finished, to applause from the EU legislators assembled for the special sitting.