Zelenskyy identifies countries at risk if pressure on Russia reduced

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Photo: president.gov.ua)

If Russia is given a pause in the war, countries where the Kremlin can achieve an instant “success effect” will be under threat. Therefore, giving Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin a chance to “politically survive” is not an option, according to a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

According to him, Russia is drawing conclusions from the mistakes it made in Ukraine, and it will continue to destabilize if given pauses, if given the opportunity to survive in aggression against Ukraine.

“If Putin is allowed to politically survive, Russia will then use another tactic. It will exert influence on those countries where it can immediately achieve a success effect. This means smaller countries, and therefore under threat, I am confident, including the Baltic states, Moldova, and Balkan states, everywhere the Soviet Union had a presence,” he said.

Zelenskyy also emphasized that Russia “hasn’t swallowed Ukraine, it couldn’t.”

“I am grateful to your countries and to the whole world for helping Ukraine to be strong. And now we should not pause, but strengthen Ukraine. Because Russia definitely won’t stop at this,” the Ukrainian leader stated.

Zelenskyy’s visit to Albania

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Albania shortly before midnight on February 28 for the Ukraine – Southeast Europe Summit taking place on the same day.

This is Zelenskyy’s first visit to Tirana, which comes just a few days after two years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. More details in RBC-Ukraine’s material.