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 negotiated path in which the partners’ role must also be decisive.”
Zeleski said that his government tried to end the siege of Mariupol every day: “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 mass evacuation by sea 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 “were 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, that’s a huge amount of work. But still less than protecting the state in war.”
“Now this is a historic moment, the moment when we can solve forever many of the chronic environmental problems of our lives,” 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 own apartment, build a house… Today, I set the task of providing temporary housing to all my IDPs. [internally displaced.]…whose house was destroyed by war. temporary housing until we rebuild their homes.”
A priority, he said, would be homes for the elderly “provide housing for all those who have defended or are defending the state, who have worked or are working in the interest of society, and have their own There is 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.” had fled from the Russian invaders to Kyiv.
The bridge was an escape route for thousands of civilians who survived Russian bombings in March.