Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a somber reply overnight to Vladimir Putin’s massive rally in a Moscow stadium, accusing the Russian leader of deliberately trying to create a “humanitarian catastrophe” and warning the war on his nation will plague Russia for generations.
Zelensky’s address came the day after Putin sought to garner support for Russia’s army as it enters the fourth week of what he calls a “special military operation” and what most of the world calls an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation. The embattled Ukrainian leader, speaking from outside his offices in Kyiv, noted an estimated 200,000 Russians attended Putin’s rally and seemed to address them directly when he referred to his nation’s estimates of the price Russia has already paid for its war.
“Picture for yourself that in that stadium in Moscow, there are 14,000 dead bodies and tens of thousands more injured and maimed,” Zelensky said. “Those are the Russian costs throughout the invasion.”
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE FROM WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Zelensky called for Putin to meet with him to negotiate the end of the war, which has sent an estimated 3 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing as Russia increasingly targets cities and civilians.
The Friday rally in Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow came on the anniversary of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Putin praised his military as the crowd cheered and patriotic songs blared. The Russian leader said that his nation had not seen “unity” from its troops like they were right now “for a long time” and even quoted scripture.
“There is no other love rather than if someone gives soul for their friends,” Putin said, paraphrasing John 15:13 from the Bible.
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Putin told his countrymen the invasion of Ukraine will “liberate people from this suffering from the genocide,” repeating his claim that Kyiv has slaughtered ethnic Russian Ukrainians.
“We are seeing the heroic deeds of our guys in this operation,” Putin said during the rally. “These words from the holy scripture of Christianity, it’s something that is very dear to those who profess this religion. But everything is down to the facts that this universal value for all the peoples and all the confessions of Russia.”
