Zelenskyy: Ukraine will look more like ‘Big Israel’ than Europe in the wake of Russia’s war
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses Israel through the Knesset’s dedicated channel, March 20, 2022. (Screenshot)
(JTA) — Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Jewish president, said his country will look more like Israel, a democracy on constant military alert, than like their more relaxed European neighbors, given the prospect of long-term tensions with Russia.
“We will become a ‘big Israel’ with its own face,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday at a briefing for Ukrainian media, Haaretz reported. “We will not be surprised if we have representatives of the armed forces or the national guard in cinemas, supermarkets, and people with weapons. I am confident that the question of security will be issue number one for the next ten years. I am sure of it.”
Armed soldiers are ubiquitous in Israel, where there is a mandatory draft for men and women and where men may do weeks of reserve duty every year into their 40s.
Zelensky clarified that he was not anticipating an autocracy. “An authoritarian state would lose to Russia,” he said. “People know what they are fighting for.”
Russia’s war against Ukraine, in its fifth week, has drawn into battle civilians who have been rapidly trained in the use of rifles and other means of combat.
“Ukraine will definitely not be what we wanted it to be from the beginning. It is impossible,” Zelenskyy said. “Absolutely liberal, European – it will not be like that. It will definitely come from the strength of every house, every building, every person.”
—
The post Zelensky: Ukraine will look more like ‘big Israel’ than Europe in the wake of Russia’s war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
