Sat 19 February 2022:
Ukraine is Europe’s “shield” against the Russian army and deserves stronger international support, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
“For eight years, Ukraine has been a shield,” he told a security conference in the German city of Munich on Saturday.
His comments came as pro-Russia separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilisation while Western leaders made increasingly dire warnings that a Russia invasion of its neighbor appeared imminent.
President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, supervised major military drills involving Russia’s nuclear forces.
Ukraine’s leader told the Munich Security Conference for years Ukraine has acted as barrier and protected the continent from Russian advances.
“For eight years, Ukraine has been holding back one of the greatest armies in the world,” Zelenskyy said, in reference to Ukraine’s conflict with Russian-backed separatists
Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not respond to provocations in the eastern Donbas region and would strive to establish peace through diplomacy.
“We do not respond to provocations and strive to establish peace exclusively through diplomacy,” Zelenskyy wrote on Instagram.
UK’s Johnson says West needs unity on Russia
The West will need an overwhelming display of unity if it is to persuade Putin to avoid a “catastrophic” invasion of Ukraine, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
“There is still a chance to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but it will require an overwhelming display of western solidarity beyond anything we have seen in recent history,” Johnson said in a written statement to media.
Lavrov: Ignoring Russian demands is bad for stability
Russia’s top diplomat has told France’s foreign minister that ignoring Moscow’s security demands was bad for stability in Europe and elsewhere, Russia’s foreign ministry said, as tensions surged in eastern Ukraine.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s veteran foreign minister, told France’s Jean-Yves Le Drian on the phone that all countries should comply with their commitments to ensure the principle of “equal and indivisible security”, the ministry said.
“Ignoring Russia’s legitimate rights in this area adversely affects the stability not only on the European continent, but also in the world,” it said in a statement.
.SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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