UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR Zelenskyy has said that Russia’s move to sanction over 50 Irish politicians is “propaganda” and “doesn’t really affect anything”.
Zelenskyy was addressing third-level students across the country via video link this afternoon. He also took questions from a number of students during a Q&A session.
The event was organised by DCU on behalf of the Embassy of Ukraine and streamed to over 20 institutions throughout Ireland.
Speaking through a translator, Zelenskyy said in his opening remarks that he had been made aware that Russia had sanctioned a list of Irish politicians while preparing for the address.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, Minister of Justice Helen McEntee and Minister of Finance Paschal Donohoe are among the politicians banned from entering the Russian Federation due to “the anti-Russian course of the Irish government.”
The statement, issued by the country’s Foreign Ministry at 11.26am Irish time on Wednesday, also bans Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil Seán Ó Fearghail, as well as dozens of unnamed senators and TDs.
Zelenskyy said the sanctions were imposed “because of your country’s support of European efforts to stop Russian terror and to revive international law”.
“Of course, those restrictions imposed by Russia, they don’t really affect anything. It’s more of a propaganda thing so that Russian TV could pretend as if Russia is still capable of something,” he said.
The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence has since called for the expulsion of officials and operatives attached to the Embassy of Russia in Ireland in the wake of the sanctions.
Speaking on behalf of the Committee, Chairperson Deputy Charlie Flanagan said he wished to convey once again the Committee’s unwavering support for Ukraine and its people at this time of crisis
“The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence reaffirms its abhorrence and condemnation of Russian aggression in Ukraine and Russia’s illegal and unacceptable invasion,” Flanagan said.
“In light of the reported sanctions on Irish Government ministers, Oireachtas members and other officials, the Joint Committee now calls for the expulsion from this jurisdiction of a number of officials and operatives currently attached to the embassy of Russia in Ireland. The staff complement of the Russian embassy in Ireland should align with the complement of staff assigned to the Irish embassy in Moscow.”
Sanctions on Russia ‘must be hastened’
During his short speech, Zelenskyy said that international pressure and sanctions on Russia “should not only be maintained but hastened”, adding that Russia continues to “destroy international relations and human lives”.
He compared the figure of 52 Irish politicians to the 52 points outlined in the G20 joint declaration, which Russia hailed as a “balanced text”, despite it deploring “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine”.
Zelenskyy said that while the G20 declaration outlines that it will work with others to promote energy and marketability, Russia launched a missile attack against Ukraine while the summit in Indonesia was still in progress.
“Against the energy sector the next day, there was another missile attack not only against our power plants, but also against gas production facilities. So this is the Russian weighing of energy stability,” he said.
Referencing the declaration to tackle climate change, the Ukrainian president said Russia had destroyed almost 3 million hectares of forest in Ukraine as a result of bombing and shelling. “This is just one of thousands of Russian crimes against the environment,” he added.
He also said that hundreds of hospitals have been destroyed by Russian shelling.
Most of the territory occupied by Russia, there’s no access to medicine now. Not even to the simplest medicines, not to surgery, not to insulin. This is Europe. This is 2022.
He said that fresh sanctions should be imposed on Russia.
“Dear friends, Russian aggression does not stop for a single day just as Russian lies to the world do not stop for a single day. Therefore, international pressure on Russia should not stop for a single day.”
He also encouraged students to “please talk about” what’s happening in Ukraine and to support projects that can “help our defence and our people”.
The Ukrainian president also thanked Ireland for its support of his country and said he was grateful for it. He said that Ireland has helped Ukraine “in many ways” and that despite being militarily neutral, “you are absolutely not neutral in your attitude, in your assistance”.
“Take care of your freedom, and glory to Ukraine,” he added.
Universities and schools ‘levelled to the ground’
Zelenskyy then took part in a short Q&A session with a few students.
Asked how the invasion has affected Ukrainian universities, he said many people no longer have access to university education. He said that 2,719 universities and schools have been shelled and 332 “completely destroyed, levelled to the ground”.
He said some have access to online education, but that it is not the same when compared to the atmosphere of learning at university in person.
Zelenskyy was also asked whether he thought Russia would ever launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He said that people’s attitudes changed in 2014, the year that Russia annexed Crimea.
“Someone would say that ‘I was convinced that Russia would ever think of aggression against Ukraine’, and that’s why many people were surprised. Many people were even shocked,” he said.
“And then it happened that in a certain moment in time, even before the full scale invasion, there was this feeling that it was a matter of time.
“That sooner or later, they were preparing their own society… for their tyranny, for this idea of having Ukraine occupied, destroying the Ukrainian identity – people, language, flag, everything – so that there would be no country of Ukraine and no Ukrainian independence.”
Asked how he was dealing with the psychological pressure of the war, Zelenskyy responded: “Perfectly normal. It’s not a pressure for me.”
“I’m a calm person. Well not everyday, surely. My team knows because there’s different days, different moments, that’s frankly speaking.”
He said Ukraine has survived many challenges in its history and will continue to fight for independence, adding that “we will let Russia think how do they cope with the psychological pressure”.
Asked if he found that social media was a new battlefield of war, Zelenskyy said “absolutely, I fully agree”.
He said social media was a battlefield that’s “full of capabilities and unfortunately, Russia has been using that”.
“They’ve spread the disinformation in many African and Asian countries, they have a powerful impact on Israel, on Germany and many other European countries, their TV channels with disinformation until recently worked in the United States and many other countries of the world,” he said.
“For the truths to be spread, it’s very difficult. It’s hard to overcome the false information… and it’s a component of this information war.”
He said that Ukraine was powerful in the beginning of the war, but said they realised “that we cannot argue with Russia only with weapons on the battlefield because they have more of those weapons”.
“In the informational domain, we knew that if we would be able to penetrate this wall, to penetrate this informational lies, we would be able to overcome it. In that case, we would be able to unite the whole world, and I believe that we did very well.”
Speaking ahead of Zelenskyy’s address, Minister for Further Education Simon Harris said that the Ukrainian president was “leading the fight to defend our democratic values, our freedoms, our concept of sovereignty and all that we believe in right across the continent of Europe”.
He said that since the outbreak of the war in February, Ireland has welcomed over 63,000 displaced Ukrainian citizens. Of those, over 500 have enrolled in higher education, and around 15,000 has enrolled in further education training courses.
Harris said that Ireland has been “extremely clear and extremely consistent in calling out Putin’s war in Ukraine for what is it: illegal, immoral and unjustified”.
“Ireland supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity. President Zelenskyy, we support you, we support Ukraine, we support your people 100%,” he said.
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