Ukraine, UkraineWorld director: ‘ally time, if blitz fails for Putin it is difficult to continue’

If the blitz to take Kiev “fails it would be very problematic for Russia to continue with the offensive. Time is our ally: the more we resist, the less morale there is in the Russian army. This is my impression and therefore it is quite likely that the Russians try to attack. In fact today they announced an offensive in all directions “. This hope clings to Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher, journalist and director of ‘UkraineWorld’, an English-language multimedia project on Ukraine managed by Internews Ukraine which provides news, videos, podcasts and analyzes on the situation in the country, who in an interview at the Adnkronos he tells of the excited moments he is living in Kiev without hiding the “hatred” that Ukrainians feel today for President Putin. “The fighting is underway. Now it is impossible to enter the city if you are only a civilian. For example, the bridges over the Dnieper cannot be crossed, you need a special permit”, Yermolenko declares, confirming that “the Russians are already in Kiev and there is fighting in some neighborhoods “, particularly in the north and west. For the Ukrainian forces, he explains, the defense of the capital is” fundamental “and they are all deployed:” there is the army, the defense forces territorial, the president, all the leadership. The Ukrainians are very determined and I think that every day of resistance gives greater feelings of strength and confidence “. According to the journalist, at the moment the Russians do not control any area of ​​Kiev, but “it is difficult to verify this, also because they act in small groups.” For the director of ‘UkraineWorld’, Putin can be stopped essentially in two ways. “First with the Ukrainian resistance, then with harsh, very harsh sanctions: not only economic sanctions, but any possible sanctions, including disconnection from the swift. And as far as I understand, the Italians have also agreed to join”. Yermolenko continues, even the Germans and the Hungarians, who “were the greatest opponents” of Russia’s exclusion from the swift “are becoming convinced. But the Ukrainians, who are holding up well, need more weapons, defensive weapons” and of “medical assistance”. According to the philosopher and journalist, Putin’s real goal is “to restore the greatness of Russia or rather of a so-called great Russia. The president saw his country become a second-tier state in the 1990s” and tries to bring back the Russia to the status of a power which, from its point of view, belongs to it. For this reason “he occupied Crimea. He attacked Georgia and now Ukraine”, insists Yermolenko, pointing out however that the latest military operation actually damaged Russia as “in global opinion there is stiff opposition to ‘occupation of Ukraine “.” And, of course, one of his goals is to re-establish the Soviet Union – he highlights – But he doesn’t understand that Ukraine has changed and that nobody likes Putin here. Nobody likes Russians anymore and he is remarkable to see how the Ukrainians “who were in tune with the Russians, now hate them. Take Zelenskyi (the Ukrainian president, ed), he is a Russian-speaking Jew from eastern Ukraine. He was doing business with Russia. He was creating his own entertainment empire mostly thanks to the Russian audience. And now he is a great Ukrainian patriot. Why? Why Russia attacked. Even Russian sportsmen who play abroad have made statements against the occupation “. Yermolenko therefore wants to send a message to Italy,” a great country that I love and Rome for me is the most beautiful city in the world. I am a philosopher, so I write books. And in one of my recent books I talk a lot about Italian painting and sculpture, about Raphael, Michelangelo and Bernini “. According to the journalist,” Ukrainians know and love Italy and there are many common values ​​between Italian history and history Ukraine. For example, Ukrainian democratic movements and Ukrainian intellectuals relied heavily on the tradition of Italian political philosophy. Kiev and Rome themselves have a lot in common in their history. “” I know that some Italians have deluded themselves about Russia, thinking it was some sort of alternative to America’s global might or something. But what is happening in Ukraine is not about the real geopolitics or the struggles between Americans and Russians – he concludes – It is about the will of the Ukrainians to have a free country “.