In his latest Saturday video address to the people of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol and promised a better future after hostilities ended.
“The situation in Mariupol remains as dire as possible. Just inhumane,” said Zelensky. “Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone in Mariupol.”
An estimated 100,000 people live in Mariupol and its surrounding areas, which are largely under Russian control, with Ukrainian troops confined to pockets of resistance.
“There are only two ways to influence this,” Zelensky said. “Either our allies will immediately give Ukraine all the necessary heavy weapons, aircraft, and without exaggeration … or a dialogue path in which the partners’ role must also be decisive.”
Zelesky said that his government tried every day to end the siege of Mariupol: “military or diplomatic – anything to save people. But finding a solution is extremely difficult.”
“While we have heard many intentions from people who wanted to help and who are in a position of truly international influence, none of them have yet been realized.” He added.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a massive sea evacuation on March 25, but the plan went nowhere. Zelensky said that every day either he or the head of the armed forces or the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team “was in contact with our defenders of Mariupol every day.”
Reconstruction of the Nation: Zelensky also said that his government had begun planning for a post-war future.
“Today I held a meeting dedicated to rebuilding our cities,” he said. “Of course, it is a huge amount of work. But still nothing less than defending the state in war.”
“Now this is a historic moment, a moment when we can solve many of the chronic environmental problems of our lives forever,” the president said.
Zelensky addressed the housing situation and what he called “the real modernization of our cities”.
“Millions of people know how difficult it is to get a house, earn money for their apartment, build a house… Today, I have set the task of providing temporary housing to all my IDPs. [internally displaced.]…whose house was destroyed by the war. Temporary housing until we rebuild their homes. ,
The priority, he said, would be homes for the elderly “provide housing for all those who have defended or are defending the state, those who have worked or are working in the interest of society, and have no housing.” It cannot be so long that a person devotes his whole life to military service, but retires without an apartment of his own. ”
Zelensky also said that monuments were being planned, one of which would “tell the story of the destroyed bridge in the Kyiv region, which connects Irpin and Buka with Kyiv. The story of the people who used this bridge and this road.” Did.” Kyiv had fled from the Russian invaders.
The bridge was an escape route for thousands of civilians who survived the Russian bombings in March.