Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Monday that Ukraine is part of Russia and that what he called historical parts of Russia needed to “come home.”
During a speech at a youth forum in Sochi, Medvedev said, “One of Ukraine’s former leaders said at some point that Ukraine is not Russia … that concept needs to disappear forever. Ukraine is definitely Russia,” he said.
Medvedev, who was Russia’s president from 2008-2012, praised the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and said Moscow would continue its “special military operation” until the Ukrainian leadership capitulated.
There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv.
Medvedev’s opinions carry weight in the Kremlin and his comments could be indicative of Russia’s expansive military goals in Ukraine, according to the Reuters news agency.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Medvedev and other top Russian officials of waging an illegal war of conquest and say Ukraine and its people are distinct from Russia and Russians.
Medvedev ruled out peace talks with the current Ukrainian leadership, saying that any future Ukrainian government that wanted talks would need to recognize what he called the new reality.
Medvedev also said ties between Russia and the United States were now worse than during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the two countries came to the brink of nuclear conflict.
“I will say one bitter thing,” he said. “The current situation is much worse than the one in 1962. This is a fully fledged war against Russia with American weapons and with the participation of American special forces and American advisers. That’s how it is.”
Russian railway
Ukraine said Monday it blew up a rail bridge in the Samara region in southwestern Russia.
Ukraine’s military intelligence said the attack targeted the supports of a bridge over the Chapaevka River.
The agency said Russia had used the bridge to transport military cargo.
Russia’s railway operator reported an incident in the Samara region, saying it had been forced to cancel and re-route some trains in the area after an explosion at a rail bridge. There were no casualties.
Located on the Volga River, the Samara region is one of Russia’s heavy industry hubs.
$17.4 billion in unfulfilled pledges
Ukraine said Monday that it had not received $17.4 billion in proceeds from two donor conferences held in Poland in 2022, early in Russia’s invasion.
The two events in 2022, organized by Poland together with the European Commission, had raised $10.8 billion and $6.5 billion, respectively, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal told a press conference.
“Where did they go? What did they support … Ukraine has received nothing,” he added.
In April 2022, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced that a global pledging event for Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw had raised nearly $11 billion.
A separate event held in the Polish capital the following month raised $6.8 billion, also with the European Union’s backing, the Polish government said at the time, AFP reports.
The announcement comes amid Kyiv’s desperate need for military and financial support, with the war with Russia now in its third year.
Zelenskyy appeal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an appeal Sunday to Western nations to supply delayed aid to Ukraine, which is defending itself against Russian onslaughts despite a shortage of ammunition.
“If this does not happen, it will become one of the most disgraceful pages in history – if America or Europe are defeated by Iranian ‘Shahed’ drones or Russian fighter jets. Russian evil should not be encouraged by weak decisions, delays in deliveries or hesitation,” he said, referring to the stalled U.S. aid package for Ukraine due to political wrangling in the U.S. Congress.
“It is simply impossible to explain how the hardships of a bleeding country can be used in domestic political struggles,” Zelenskyy added during his Sunday night video address.
Zelenskyy’s strident tone in his address revealed his frustration as the death toll in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa rose to 12 people, including five children, Sunday, after a Russian drone struck an apartment block there Saturday.
“Russia has made Ukrainian children its military targets,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, earlier Sunday, after the bodies of three children were pulled from the rubble.
It has now been more than two months since the U.S. last sent military supplies to Ukraine. In Washington, officials are viewing the shortage of weapons and ammunition in Ukraine and the drop off in U.S. supply shipments with increasing alarm.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to bring to a vote the $95 billion foreign aid package passed by the Senate that includes a crucial $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. That decision could stall the package for weeks after an already months-long wait in Congress.
Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.