Russia is interested in triggering a war in the Middle East to undermine world unity – address by the President of Ukraine

9 October 2023 – 20:25

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today was a very eventful day. Various meetings, and among them those related to the latest international developments are of particular importance.

I held a meeting with the heads of our intelligence, Main Intelligence Directorate and Foreign Intelligence Service, as well as with our diplomats on the situation in and around Israel and on the overall situation in the Middle East.

This is of fundamental importance for us – not only for Ukraine, but also for the entire Europe.

According to the available information – a very clear one – Russia is interested in triggering a war in the Middle East, so that a new source of pain and suffering could undermine world unity, increase discord and contradictions, and thus help Russia destroy freedom in Europe. We see Russian propagandists gloating. We see Moscow’s Iranian friends openly supporting those who attacked Israel. And all of this is a much greater threat than the world currently perceives. The world wars of the past started with local aggressions.

We know how to counter this threat.

We are preparing appropriate steps. And most importantly, we are defending the need for maximum unity in the world.

Today, I addressed the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, first of all, on the issue of unity. Every state in the world must now choose how it will defend international law. Defend! Not stand aside when terror tries to take over, and when another region of the world may collapse before our eyes.

I am grateful to all the leaders and states who are now fully aware of the danger and are ready to work together to keep the situation under control, to keep the obvious sponsors of terror from broader interference.

Today I also held a meeting with Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk. We coordinated our positions for the coming weeks.

I also met with Deputy Prime Minister Fedorov, Minister of Education and Science Lisovyi, and the ministry’s team. Working issues.

One more thing.

I have replaced the Commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Anatoliy Barhylevych has been appointed commander instead of Ihor Tantsiura. The key task is that the development of the Territorial Defense Forces should not stop.

Thank you to everyone who cares about Ukraine and fights for our country! We are preparing a new reinforcement for our warriors.

I thank everyone in the world who has the courage to call a spade a spade and defend life and the rules-based order!

Glory to Ukraine!

As President Zelenskyy was saying:

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1711038771951763734

While the Western world reacted with horror to the heart-breaking scenes of Hamas gunmen preying on Israeli civilians on October 7, the reaction in Russia was markedly different.

Kremlin-endorsed propagandists celebrated the fighting as a distraction to tear the West’s eyes from Ukraine, produced new conspiracy theories to explain the news, and delighted in the discomfort and fear of Russian Jews who have emigrated to Israel.

There’s as yet no evidence that Russia knew of the impending attack, although it has fostered ties with Hamas. In March, Hamas reportedly sent a high-level delegation to Russia and held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, warning the Kremlin that the group’s “patience” with Israel was “running out.” Senior Hamas figures also visited Russia in May and September 2022. The group has said its attack was supported by Iran and other countries but did not name them.

But while the Kremlin may not have been directly involved, many of its citizens are openly antisemitic, as are senior officials. Military correspondent Dmitry Steshin, known for his overtly genocidal statements about Ukrainians, posted on his Telegram channel Russky Tarantas that there should be “not a drop of pity or sympathy” for Israelis, including former Russian citizens. Steshin complained about people who left Russia for Israel, describing them as “relocants.”

He wrote: “We stayed here and are still standing knee-deep in blood. Let the ones responsible for our tears do that as well! Or let them run, to refresh their historical memory. Greetings to the relocants!”

Sergey Mardan, one of Russia’s best-known propagandists and host of the eponymous show on the state channel Solovyov Live, wrote on his Telegram channel that he was happy for the Russians who moved to Israel because they didn’t want to live in a country that is at war with its neighbors.

He added, “This mess is beneficial for Russia, because the globalist toad will be distracted from Ukraine and will get busy trying to put out the eternal Middle Eastern fire.” Mardan explained, “Iran is our real military ally. Israel is an ally of the United States. Therefore, choosing a side is easy!”

During his show, “Mardan,” the host made a bizarre comparison between Palestine and Russia, claiming that Russia “has been occupied since 1991” and is only now seeking to correct the situation. Russian propagandists frequently claim that Ukraine is “occupying” Russian lands, which Russia is fighting to reclaim.

Head of RT, Margarita Simonyan, wrote on her X/Twitter account, “The country that is not at war with its neighbors is again at war with its neighbors. We await the exodus of Russian pacifists. Then again, we won’t hold our breath.”

Host of the show “Morning Z” on Solovyov Live, Boris Yakemenko, blamed the violence on gender issues (presumably a reference to LGBT+ debates in the West), stating, “What is happening today in different corners of the world shows that the world has come to a dangerous point, beyond which lies the new world. Crossing into it will be preceded by horrendous casualties, because of a feeling of total injustice, insanity, a total lack of understanding of what is happening, with all of these genders, with all of these strange phenomena!”

Yakemenko read caustic messages from members of his audience, pondering which citizenship Russian relocants would choose this time. He addressed former Russian compatriots, telling them to “Go ahead and run, or hide in bomb shelters.”

During his show on October 7, Vladimir Solovyov, described the Hamas attack as a “loud slap” to Israel and its intelligence services, assigning all fault to America as a “guarantor of peace in the region” and baselessly blaming Ukraine for providing arms to Hamas. (Hamas’ main arms supplier is actually Iran).

Much, much more at the link!

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1711517142498103335

https://twitter.com/BadBalticTakes/status/1711343082770166089

Classic russian information laundering. How it works:

1, Russia promotes a nonsense story.

2, Their useful idiots & assets in the West repeat it.

3, Russian media then re-reports its nonsense but now using their own useful idiots & assets as the source of the story.

(The House Rep is Marjorie Taylor Greene, btw)

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1711289208092918191

Beware: Russians continue pushing to their audience the agenda that armaments from Ukraine were used by HAMAS in the attack against Israel. As sources, they cite that silly video from two days ago and commentary from their own “political experts”. Just saw a few new articles on pro-Russian websites. These claims will inevitably emerge on this platform.

And here’s more from President Zelenskyy who wrote a very detailed thread about threats to global stability. First tweet from the thread followed by the rest from the Thread Reader App.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1711302805464445022

We see who in the world is trying to replace the power of international law with the horror of blood and disasters. We see whose deliberate investments in terror are destroying the lives of various people around the world, from Belarus to Mali. We see. And we must act together! 

No one can forget what terrorists did in Israel. Thousands of missiles against peaceful cities. Shot civilian cars. Men, women, and children. No one was spared. Streets in blood. Hostages. The terrorists themselves shared the footage of their atrocities and were proud of them. 

Israeli journalists who have been here in Ukraine, in Bucha, are now saying that they saw the same evil where Russia came. The same evil. And the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel, and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine. 

The first dangerous thing is the shocking joy of Russian state-backed propagandists. They call children who are being held hostage by terrorists in Gaza “trophies”. Such a word. Just as Russia has captured thousands of Ukrainian children during its aggression against Ukraine. 

And the second dangerous thing is the backing of what is going on… Iran can’t say it has nothing to do with what is going on in Ukraine if it sells “Shaheds” to Russia. Iran can’t say it has nothing to do with what is going on in Israel if its officials claim the support of it. 

How far can such evil go? No further than we allow it to. Our unity must and can stop evil. Our desire for peace, not their desire for blood, should determine how the world lives. Our rules-based international order, and not their attempts to make death a rule. 

Terrorist leaders ask, “What are the rules on which the international order is based?” As if they don’t understand. These rules are simple. Do not rape women. Do not kill. Do not consider children as trophies. Do not fill cities and villages with blood. Do not open fire at civilian cars. Do not hit peaceful cities with missiles and drones. And one more rule: under any circumstances, we must bring all terrorists and all those who help them to justice. Isn’t the power of the world enough to stop evil? I am sure it is. 

Everyone who values life and peace needs to be as active as possible. This is not the time to withdraw from the international arena or isolate due to internal disputes. This is not the time to remain silent or pretend that terror on one continent does not affect global affairs. 

Europe should be active. The US should be active. China. India. Arab states should feel how much can collapse if they allow terrorists to achieve their goals. Türkiye. Brazil and all of Latin America. Japan. Australia. Canada. African countries. Central Asian countries. Korea. Pakistan. Indonesia. The Caribbean. The Pacific states. Everyone should be active in the defense of life and international law! We must not give terror a single chance. 

If there are real global sanctions for any sponsorship of terror, terror will lose. If the world unites whenever someone takes women hostage and kidnaps the children of another nation, terror will have no allies. 

If the one attacked by terrorists receives all the weapons it needs to protect its people, international law will be the only force that will determine how the world lives. And the world will live in peace. This is our common goal. 

I urge states and parliaments to be even more active for the sake of global unity. Let everyone who sponsors terror feel the power of our wrath. And let everyone who needs help defending themselves against terror feel the power of our solidarity. 

Everyone can help prevent the chasm between the world and peace from widening. We must all be able to promise our children that we will pass on to them a world ruled not by blood shed by evil but by freedom guaranteed by law. 

In my address to the NATO Parliamentary Council, I stressed that our unity must and can stop the evil. Be it a terrorist organization that attacked Israel, a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine, or other forms of terror threatening rules and international law around the world. 

• • •

Here’s the last tweet with the video in it as it doesn’t seem to have made it from the Thread Reader App.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1711342407835410527

Hroza:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1711323406434513150

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1711421571326153024

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1711446045010415834

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1711453552193749393

Marinka:

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1711374473377513821

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1711389964577947880

Kherson:

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1711305857785385011

Not sure where this is:

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1711280037255589972

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1711280895003328812

Obligatory:

Bakhmut:

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1711395147387158649

Fighters of the Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade took into capture a Russian officer in the rank of Major, a commander of the Alga battalion belonging to the 72nd Brigade. The video was published on their Telegram channel (subtitles added).

It’s a bit difficult to judge what exactly happened from the video, but probably the Russian battalion was unexpectedly attacked, which resulted in many casualties (by the Major’s admission).

Zaporizhzhia:

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1711282531117465958

Well this is interesting:

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1711279626310307910

“Recreation of the Leningrad Military District suggests that Russia is preparing for possible conflicts with Baltic states and NATO” – @TheStudyofWar

Interesting that this was noted. After the attack on Israel, which some call a “second front” (some Russians push this narrative), a test of NATO’s resolve to protect its own territory is possible. At the very least, provocations could be expected. Putin seems keen on setting as many areas on fire as possible.

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1711285399606157419

I want to include this from my Israel-Hamas war update from earlier today:

Here’s the difference between the importance of Israel versus Ukraine in the US Congress as a result of the convergence of US domestic politics and religion:

https://twitter.com/yanircozin/status/1711370609395962164

Specifically, that the primary base of Israel supporters in the US is no longer Jewish Americans. Rather, it is white evangelicals who adhere to the made in America apocalyptic doctrine of dispensational premillennialism. This concept asserts that for Jesus to return that the Jews must first return to Israel where they vast majority will be killed in the battle of Armageddon. The few who convert to Christianity will be saved and survive. This doctrine is both antisemitic and genocidal. It requires the complete destruction of all Jews as part of white evangelicals apocalyptic fever dreams. However, since white evangelicals are the base of the Republican Party and have been courted and manipulated by Bibi for decades, you get unanimous Republican and conservative movement support for Israel, which is reflected in the Congressional support. Democratic support for Israel is largely based on the fact that over 75% of Jewish Americans vote Democratic and are either members of the Democratic Party or are Independents that align with and vote Democratic.

I expect that the House GOP caucus, as well as the Republicans running for president and the anti-Ukraine GOP senators, will use this to block further aid to Ukraine. The argument will be we can’t afford to support Israel, which we have to do because of our bilateral security agreement, and Ukraine at the same time. And since we don’t have a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine, well it’s just an unfortunate reality that the US is not made out of money. This will be pushed through Fox News, OANN, NewsMax, Breitbart, Bannon’s War Room, all the usual MAGA social media accounts. It will be picked up, amplified, and rebroadcast by the various Russian information warfare bot and troll accounts as well as the usual suspects in the US, the tankies, and the vatniks until it becomes conventional wisdom for the base of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.

I wish it would be otherwise, but the Biden administration’s intention to get a separate stand alone supplemental legislative package for Ukraine has been overtaken by events. They will try and I wish them the best of luck, but I fear that they have run out of time. Which means that in terms of more support from the US, the Ukrainians have run out of time as well. I will be very happy to have to come back to the front page in a future update, mark my beliefs to market, and state I was wrong on this. I do not expect that will be the case, but will do so if it should come to pass.

That’s enough for tonight.

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