The Interview – Putin ‘celebrates 1945 victory while attacking Kyiv’: Zelensky adviser Podolyak

Issued on: 09/05/2023 – 18:00

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, spoke to FRANCE 24 from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which was again hit by Russian missiles overnight on May 9.

“Russian politicians are celebrating the victory in 1945 on Red Square and yet they’re still attacking Kyiv, a peaceful city,” Podolyak said. “Russia is waging war against a civilian population,” he added. 

Ukrainian counter-offensive will include ‘liberation of Crimea and parts of Donbas’

The Ukrainian authorities have been saying since early spring that a counter-offensive by Kyiv is imminent. Podolyak said he believes “a protracted war will only benefit Russia”. He continued: “To avoid having Russia rearming, regrouping and remobilising its troops, we need to keep pushing forward so we can bring this war to an end as soon as possible”.

The counter-offensive will include the liberation of “territories in the Crimean peninsula and areas of the Donbas region occupied in 2014”, the adviser to the Ukrainian president insisted. 

Wagner boss’s recent remarks ‘clearly reflect’ dissent

Podolyak believes that an effective counter-offensive would force the Russians to abandon their positions, and hopefully bring about “some level of political change in Russia”.

He added that the security of Europe is also affected, saying that if the status quo continues, the Russian elite will “continue to carry out blackmail activities, terrorism, political assassinations and continue to fund radical movements throughout Europe”. 

The top adviser to Zelensky also reacted to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s recent criticism of the Russian defence establishment. After threatening to leave Bakhmut, where Wagner is fighting Ukrainian forces, Prigozhin railed against the Russian army and the Russian state this Tuesday, accusing Moscow’s top generals of trying to “deceive” President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

For Podolyak, these remarks “clearly reflect” the dissent within the ruling Russian elite and the conflict between the Russian defence ministry and Prigozhin. “If we (Ukraine) can win some strategic battles against the Russian army, that will further exacerbate the conflict within the Russian elite,” he concluded.