'Better for you to survive...': Ukraine President Zelensky urges Russian troops not to fight

New Delhi: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his nightly video address, on Saturday (April 30, 2022) urged the Russian soldiers not to fight in Ukraine. Zelensky switched to Russian in the video address and said Russia has been recruiting new troops “with little motivation and little combat experience” for the units that were gutted during the early weeks of the war. 

Zelensky also stated that even Russian generals expected that thousands of their soldiers would die and thousands more will be wounded in the coming weeks.

“The Russian commanders are lying to their soldiers when they tell them they can expect to be held seriously responsible for refusing to fight and then also don't tell them, for example, that the Russian army is preparing additional refrigerator trucks for storing the bodies. They don't tell them about the new losses the generals expect,” Zelensky said.

“Every Russian soldier can still save his own life. It's better for you to survive in Russia than to perish on our land,” he said.

Ukraine allocates $4 bn for defence ministry

Additionally, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Friday informed that Ukraine has appropriated billions of dollars to the defence ministry amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.

According to a report in Xinhua news agency, the Ukrainian government has allocated 119 billion hryvnias (about $4 billion) for the ministry. "We are trying to provide maximum support for our fighters," Shmyhal said. 

The funds will be used to pay salaries to Ukrainian troops, and supply them with equipment, fuel, food, protective devices and weapons, Shmyhal added.

Zelensky discusses defensive support with UK PM Johnson

Zelensky has said that he had discussed defensive support for Ukraine with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Taking it to Twitter, Zelensky said that the two sides talked about the situation on the battlefield and the blocked city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine and necessary diplomatic efforts to achieve peace was another topic of the conversation.

Earlier on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said he had discussed defense cooperation in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Xinhua news agency reported.

(With agency inputs)

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