What Kravchuk said about Russia, its relations with Ukraine and the war – read in the material TSN.ua.

“Sometimes I ask myself what is more important: family or Ukraine? But if there was no Ukraine, there would be no my family. That is, Ukraine comes first. And I took it into my own hands in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in 1991, signed all the founding documents, and I bear an incredible responsibility for it.”

When in 2020 the first president was appointed head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass, he stated the following: “I have already seen something in my life and passed. But the time for rest has not come. I have made a decision, if I can, and I want to do this, to do something to speed up peace in the Donbass – I will do it until my last breath. That’s why I agreed.”

About Russian aggression

“At this time, I want to grab myself from a hospital bed and close my native land with my chest.”

“… so that I wake up tomorrow, and my friends call me and say: Leonid Makarovich, the war is over! That would be … I can’t even find words. How I would dance! “

“I think that Russia is also tired of this war in the Donbass, and not only in the Donbass. And if we found some ways together that would not, as they believe, put Russia at a disadvantage, this would give concrete results. “For me personally, it doesn’t matter if it lifts Putin or vice versa. I need Ukraine to have peace .”

“My biggest mistake is that I believed Russia. I had no right to do this. When I studied in Moscow, I was already over 30. I had access to the Lenin Library, to an archive that no one had. And I knew a lot about Russia, about Lenin, about everything that no one knew then. I thought that she, too, was changing. And she would finally change … she remained the same as she was. “

“Russia has already been at war for 150 years of its history and takes any decisions not through the implementation of international norms or rules of conduct adopted in the civilized world, but acts according to the “force must prevail” scheme. And this is especially evident in the example of Ukraine since the creation of an independent state. Therefore, we must be prepared for any scenarios .”

“We must be ready for anything. I will speak frankly and I want everyone to hear me: in Russia’s main document on foreign policy there is such an entry: “Ukraine was, is and will be in the system of Russia’s strategic interests.” That is, they do not see Ukraine as a separate state. They see Ukraine as a certain subordinate territory. I don’t know, maybe as a province. I don’t even know how they understand it.”

“When we talk about the war in Donbass, you can’t say ‘they provoke us and shoot, kill’. This is a strange wording… we should say ‘they are waging a real war against Ukraine, violating the agreements on comprehensive silence’, not ‘provoking'” “. We will call a spade a spade, war – war, and not some kind of ATO – that they kill, not provoke. We’re tough where we need to be, and flexible where we need to be.”

“She (Russia – ed.) does not want to live by the rules, she does not even intend to comply with international legal norms. That is, she thinks that she is allowed to behave as she wants. I say: she is deeply mistaken. And the consequences of this There will definitely be mistakes. When? I can’t say right now, but they will be very bad for Russia.”

“… I want to say that Russia understands and the Kremlin understands that this will not be a parade if they dare, go into a state of frenzy and go to war against Ukraine. This is the beginning of a large-scale conflict that could escalate into World War III . It will not be easy movement, as they felt in the Crimea. It will be a battle, a war, Ukraine’s defense of its land. And I believe that this defense will be very strong and very patriotic.”

About Crimea

“There were no gifts , Ukraine even objected. Because she knew what hard times awaited her. brought colossal revenues. On the contrary, it was a waste area. And Ukraine coped with these tasks.”

“I saw with my own eyes what horrors happened in Crimea, how people lived: they came out swollen from hunger, mosquitoes ate them. They were moved there. And Khrushchev really asked Kirichenko to take Crimea into the Ukrainian SSR. Well, Russia cannot lift Crimea . This a territory that will either turn into a diamond of relaxation, beauty, or, as the Russians are doing now, a military base. However, this base also needs to be maintained, but without water it is impossible. And there is no water there.”

Recall that on May 10, at the age of 89, the first president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, died .

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