Thirty-five years ago, Ukraine chose freedom, but for twelve of those years, Ukrainians have been forced to shed their blood to fight against Russian aggression and its imperial vision of the world, says Ukrainian Ambassador Olha Nikitchenko in an interview with LRT.lt. Ukrainians never sought to become heroes, she argues, they simply had no other choice: “If we stop fighting, then we stop existing.”
Ukraine is bringing war closer to Russia, Russian people with long-range strikes into its territory. Even Vladimir Putin acknowledged that there is some damage, but still it looks like he has a firm hold on power in Russia. Do you think these attacks are actually changing his calculations with, for example, negotiations?
Definitely, because these attacks and these long strikes, we call them the long-range sanctions, they are definitely making all of the difference. We are bringing the war actually into Russia. It's not even closer Russia, but into Russia. <…>
And it makes all the difference because Putin can acknowledge this or he may not, but it doesn't change the truth that economically Russia is very much into decline right now. Sanctions are working, long-range strikes are working. So whatever he or his allies are telling themselves, this is definitely working. <…>.
