In his last video address to the people of Ukraine on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about the situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol and promised a brighter future once hostilities are over.
“The situation in Mariupol remains as serious as possible. Just inhumane,” Zelensky said. “Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol.”
There are an estimated 100,000 people in Mariupol and the immediate vicinity, largely under Russian control, and Ukrainian forces are confined to pockets of resistance.
“There are only two ways to influence this,” Zelensky said. “Either our partners will provide Ukraine with all the necessary heavy weapons, aircraft and, without exaggeration, immediately… Or a negotiation path, in which the role of partners must also be decisive.”
Zelesnky said his government has been trying every day to end the siege of Mariupol: “Military or diplomatic – anything to save people. But finding this solution is extremely difficult.”
“While we have heard many intentions from those who wanted to help and who are really in positions of international influence, none of them have been realized so far.” he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a mass evacuation by sea on March 25, but the plan came to nothing. Zelensky said he or the chief of the armed forces or the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team “had contact with our Mariupol defenders every day. Every day”.
Rebuilding the Nation: Zelensky also said his government had been planning for a post-war future.
“Today I held a meeting dedicated to rebuilding our cities,” he said. “Of course this is a lot of work. But still less than defending the state at war.”
The president added: “Now is a historic moment; the moment when we can solve once and for all many old problems of the entire environment of our lives.”
Zelensky spoke about the housing situation and what he called the ‘true modernization of our cities’.
“Millions of people know how hard it is to get a house, earn money for their own apartment, build a house… Today I have set a task to provide temporary housing to all our displaced persons [internally displaced.]…Those whose house was destroyed by war. Temporary housing until we rebuild their homes.”
A priority, he said, would be homes for veterans to “provide housing for all those who have defended or defended the state, who have worked or work for the benefit of society, and do not have their own housing. be the case where a person devotes his whole life to military service, but retires without having an apartment of his own.”
Zelensky also said memorials are being planned, one of which will “tell the story of the destroyed bridge in the Kiev region, which connected Irpin and Bucha to Kiev. The story of people who escaped Russian invaders to Kiev through this bridge and this away. “
The bridge was the escape route for thousands of civilians who escaped Russian bombardment in March.