site.btaZelenskyy Comments on War, Weapons Aid, Russia's Plans, N-Plant's Occupation, Grain Initiative

"The occupation of a nuclear power plant is not a conflict but open war," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, addressing Bulgarian President Rumen Radev when the two conferred here on Thursday.

"As you said, this is a war of attrition - of Ukraine's attrition, not of the world's attrition, a war for killing Ukrainians rather than citizens of other countries."

Before his session with Radev, the guest argued that if this was a conflict millions of people would not have left Ukraine. "The people of Bulgaria realize that this is war, not a conflict," he added.

"I am proud to be a president of our state which is inhabited by over a hundred nationalities. All these people are citizens of Ukraine and enjoy equal rights," he added.

Referring to President Radev's refusal to back the memorandum on ammunition aid, signed earlier in the day, Zelenskyy said: "Are you saying this in your capacity as Supreme Commander-in-Chief, lest your army is weakened, or because you do not back Ukraine's strengthening? These are two different things. Everything you have in your army would be insufficient to wage a war with the Russian Federation if it attacks you. Not because your army is weak but it would be insufficient to fight against a 160-million-strong state. That is why it is good to enable people to defend themselves," the Ukrainian head of state pointed out.

"War knows no distance," he added. "If, God forbid, a tragedy happens, unless people with whom you share values aid you with weapons, what are you going to do?" he asked Radev. "We must defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our countries," the guest added. "It is your right to refuse to support the weapons aid for Ukraine," he went on to say.

Zelenskyy is convinced that Ukraine will be an EU member some day. "I am convinced that Ukraine and Europe, Ukraine and NATO must share common values," he added. In his words, Russia wants to destroy NATO and the EU. "The point is not just that Putin is waging a war against us but that he will not rest until he exterminates us. All we want is to live," he said.

"The blackmail attempts on the part of the Russian Federation include the challenges through energy prices and then the capture of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant," the Ukrainian leader said further.

"The Russians have captured the N-plant in order to cause a shortage of electricity and its prices went up," the Ukrainian leader said. "We enabled the International Atomic Energy Agency to communicate directly with Russia, because those people are mentally unbalanced, but they, too, cannot come to terms with Russia. The UN cannot come to terms with Russia," Zelenskyy added.

Regarding the grain initiative, the Ukrainian President said that Turkiye and the UN are communicating with the Russians. "Russia is coming up every day with some new trick so that the queue of ships would grow ever longer and the grain transports would be stranded. We do not control this lane, Russia has captured it, it has captured our territorial waters," he said further.

Zelenskyy thanked for being able to visit Bulgaria and for the assistance provided to Ukrainian citizens who arrived in the country after the start of the war. He acknowledged the declaration that Bulgaria's Parliament adopted on Thursday, pledging this country's support for Ukraine's bid to join NATO and noted the importance of the declaration on Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration that he and Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov signed earlier in the day. The guest also thanked for the memorandum on energy cooperation between Bulgaria and Ukraine that was signed earlier in the day.