Zelenskyy calls Russia's victory 'temporary'; 'Putin will have to return seized territory'

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on May 22 asserted that his country will secure the “ultimate victory” in the ongoing hostilities with Moscow. During his regular video address on Saturday night, Zelenskyy labelled the victory of the invading Russian forces as “temporary". Russia's President Vladimir Putin will have to return the Ukrainian territories captured by his forces, the Ukraine leader asserted, adding that Moscow will have to eventually return to the negotiation table. 

"For them [Russians], all these victories - the occupation of Crimea or Donbas - is very temporary. And all this will return - since this is our territory,” reminded Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a recorded message on May 21. 

Zelenskyy asks world to hold Russia accountable & financially responsible

President Zelenskyy had earlier asked the international community to hold Russia accountable and financially responsible for the war crimes that it committed in Ukraine. He suggested signing a multilateral agreement and creating a mechanism through which those who have suffered from Russia's actions in Ukraine will be able to receive compensation for all losses. “That would be fair. And Russia will feel the true weight of every missile, every bomb, every projectile it has fired at us,” Zelenskyy said. His remarks followed after a Russian missile struck the Kharkiv region’s town of Lozova, destroying the newly renovated house of culture.

“Russia has already done everything possible to ensure that there is no place left for culture on its territory. But what does our Kharkiv region have to do with it? Let them undermine what is left of their houses of culture in Russia if they want to,” Zelenskyy asked. 

Ukraine's President accused Russian forces of wreaking atrocities across Odesa, Poltava and Zhytomyr regions. He accused Russian forces of “completely ruining” Rubizhne and Volnovakha, just like the besieged port city of Mariupol. “They are trying to do the same with Severodonetsk and many other cities,” he iterated. “They do everything to erode any normal life in the Kherson region, in those areas of the Zaporizhzhia region where they entered,” continued the Ukrainian President, condemning destruction and death on Ukrainian soil.

“We must fight until we clear our land of the occupiers and guarantee Ukraine's security,” he told his armed forces in an impassioned address. He also demanded that Moscow must be made to compensate “in one way or another” for everything it has destroyed in Ukraine. “Each blown up house of culture and infrastructure facility. Every destroyed enterprise. Every shut down business, every hryvnia lost by people, enterprises, communities and the state,” he said. 

Image: AP, Twitter