“During the night, the occupants fired on Mykolaiv. Right at the residential quarters. From multiple launch rocket systems. They attacked Kharkiv’s living neighborhoods, and other cities of our peaceful state. It makes no sense military wise. Just terror. Missiles, air bombs, Grad MLRS, mortars. Against the people. If feels as if it was some other country. But it’s our country, not somewhere else. Our country that always wanted peace more than anything”, he wrote.
Zelensky wondered how many more deaths and losses it will take to make the skies over Ukraine safe, and what’s the difference between people from Kharkiv or Mykolaiv and those in Hamburg or Vienna. “We look forward for the decision to clear the skies. Or give us the power that you have; give us combat aircraft and means of anti-aircraft defense that will provide us with enough power”, he claimed. Zelensky added that the West actually should provide this assistance not only for Ukraine, but for itself, too: to make sure that the humanity will prevail as soon as possible.
Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Parliament of Ukraine Olena Kondratyuk also appeals to the Western partners of Ukraine. She wonders how many more innocent Ukrainian children should die for Ukraine te receive the real assistance and get its sky closed. “In Europe, in European city, we received three evacuation requests for severely injured children with gunshot wounds. Two of them didn’t make it through the night because they actually didn’t have a chance to reach the specialized assistance. Father will come to get one of them because it’s impossible to get there. How do you define it by European standards… I don’t even know”, Kondratyuk cited Andriy Vysotsky, the doctor of Okhmatdyt chidren hospital in Kyiv. Pieces of the Russian cruise missile fell on it after the attack.
Russian missiles and bombings also threaten the nuclear facilities in Ukraine, which means they also pose a threat for entire Europe and the world. Add this to the fact that currently, the aggressor country already controls Chornobyl and Zaporizhya nuclear power plants. There’s also a threat for Pivdennoukrainska NPP located in Mykolaiv region. The enemy attacked the premises of National Scientific Centre of Kharkiv Institute for Physics and Technologies; there’s a research nuclear facility called “Neutron source”, where 37 nuclear elements are loaded in the active zone. The world has to finally realize that the destruction of this facility and the storages of nuclear materials could have resulted in a large-scale environmental disaster. So, in this particular regard, the statements that establishment of the no-fly zone over Ukraine could provoke Russia to use nuclear weapon seem quite unpersuasive. It’s the Russian missiles and bombers that pose a threat of a nuclear explosion - not the no-fly zone over Ukraine and its nuclear facility.
The EU appeal to the IAEA with the request to protect Ukraine’s nuclear stations and mobilize the international assistance looks just as harmless. “I ask IAEA to do everything possible to prove nuclear safety of nuclear facilities of Ukraine in the current conditions of war”, said Kadri Simson, the European Commissioner for Energy. She turned to the IAEA director Rafael Grossi, claiming that Russia must immediately stop its violent actions against Ukraine and give Ukraine back the entire operative and regulatory control over its nuclear objects. How much time should it take and what kind of threats should emerge for everyone to realize that the only way to save the nuclear objects and people’s lives is to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine?
At that, former President of Lithuania Dalia Gribauskaite (2009-2019) is very well aware of what Russia is. She urged NATO countries to provide real aid for Ukraine, instead of acting like an accomplice in military crimes and silently watching how Ukrainian nation is being destroyed.
“The sanctions will not stop Putin, no matter what they are. They are necessary, but without any exceptions, like the ones we observe in SWIFT shutdowns, or these in the energy sector and the banks that service it”, said Dalia Gribauskaite. She reiterated that repeating the mantra about NATO being unable to help Ukraine already looks pathetic and unveils the cowardice of the West. “The West still does not realize that there’s a European war going on in Ukraine. You either participate in it and fight the aggressor or become an accomplice of military crimes, just standing and watching how Ukraine and its people are being devastated”, she said. According to her, if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, the West will still have to fight, but already in their countries. “Ukraine asks for real help, and we watch the TV showing residential quarters being demolished, and we repeat how much we support Ukraine. I’m ashamed to hear the NATO leaders and officials murmur that they “can’t get involved in the conflict”. But we did it in Syria, Libya, Africa, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, didn’t we?”, Gribauskaite said. She added that Ukraine is now fighting for its nation and peace in Europe.
