Some pro-Russian politicians almost simultaneously began to make loud statements about the impossibility of Ukraine's victory in a full-scale war with Russia - first the President of Bulgaria said so, and then the Prime Minister of Georgia joined in describing the situation in Ukraine.
Apostrophe has gathered relevant information about the politicians' statements.
Bulgaria
Euractiv informs that Bulgarian President Rumen Radev called Ukraine's victory over Russia “impossible”. Here is what he said on Saturday:
"Every day that this war continues is disastrous for Ukraine, Russia and all of us. This inevitably affects all elections – in Europe, in the USA, and everywhere in the world. We will choose in this and the next election between war and peace. Every citizen is obliged to understand this."
When asked by a journalist what signal the assassination attempt on Fico sent to Europe, Radev pointed to the full-scale war in Ukraine:
"It is unacceptable to present the continuation of the war and the impossible victory over Russia as the only possible solution."
According to him, it is extremely dangerous for passions between Russia and Ukraine to be inflamed in Europe, and for "voices for peace to be greeted with shots," but he did not comment on the information about the arrested man for attempted murder, whose data leads to radical pro-Russian groups.
The Bulgarian President added:
"The attempted assassination of a European prime minister by a radicalised fanatic, because of his support for peace, is indicative of this ingrained intolerance of dissent and hatred. Many politicians, parties and media have contributed to this with their portrayal of every different voice as pro-Russian, which is extremely unfair and leads to all these negative consequences."
He believes that if the war in Ukraine continues, the country will become "demographically devastated country, with completely destroyed infrastructure, industry, production, and this will have extremely serious consequences not only for Ukraine but also for the whole of Europe."
In view of these words, Radev called for peace, not for the provision of weapons. It is worth recalling that Rumen Radev is strongly opposed to providing military assistance to Ukraine:
"With weapons, without weapons – we are going to a similar outcome. We have to realise that. The difference will be thousands of human casualties and a devastated country (Ukraine) for which recovery we will have to pay."
Georgia
Echo of the Caucasus reports that Georgian PM Irakli Kobakhidze has once again accused his opponents of wanting to open a second front against Russia in the country. He called the main goal of the opponents "Ukrainianization of Georgia".
Recalling how one of the protesters said that he was jealous of the Ukrainians, Kobakhidze commented on the allegedly real situation in Ukraine as follows:
"I would like to remind everyone once again what it means to share the fate of Ukraine and what the situation in Ukraine is today. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of people have died as a result of this war in Ukraine. A specific statistical indicator is that 2/3 of young people aged 19-24 either left the country or died. We are talking about the destruction of Ukraine's gene pool. This is what our opponents are jealous of."
He also referred to the Ukrainian refugees, the allegedly destroyed economy and infrastructure, but he did not focus on the fact of the destruction of infrastructure caused by Russia, but rather on the allegedly "2.5 times" larger occupied territories:
"About 10 million people, or one in four Ukrainians, have either become internally displaced or refugees, and have left the country. The economy has been destroyed; in the first year alone, they had a 30% economic decline, which means a complete catastrophe. The infrastructure is destroyed, and today Russia occupies 2.5 times more territory than at the beginning of the war. Amidst the war, corruption is rampant in Ukraine, elections, political pluralism, media freedom, and everything related to the general concept of democracy have been canceled."
However, it should be emphasized that, given the ongoing war, the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Regime of Martial Law" prohibits the holding of any elections, including the Presidential elections - this is provided for in Article 19 "Guarantees of Legality under Martial Law":
"Under martial law, the election of the President of Ukraine, as well as elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local self-government bodies are prohibited."
Earlier, we reported that Zelensky said that the truce with Russia is not yet possible.