Putin's ultimate goal is to exterminate the Ukrainian people - former Ukrainian PM

9 April 2022, 13:03

Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk on LBC

The former Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has told LBC that Putin's "ultimate goal" is to take over Ukraine and "exterminate" the Ukrainian people, citing Putin's "own Mein Kampf" as evidence.

It comes after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, having seen Russian troops retreat from their advance on his capital, called on the world to hold Moscow accountable for a missile strike on a train station that killed at least 52 people.

Mr Yatsenyuk told Matt Frei: "I want to be very clear about President Putin... He has his own Mein Kampf... More than half a year ago Putin actually published his Mein Kampf. It was a crazy, historical article about Ukraine, and [the] Ukrainian nation, which, to put it in a nutshell, he actually said that there is no Ukraine and no Ukrainian people.

"So, his ultimate goal is to take over Ukraine and to exterminate Ukrainian people and that's [exactly what] his military are doing. War crimes and crimes against humanity.

"This is the genocide under the auspicy of Putin."

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Mr Yatsenyuk alleged that Russian state news RIA Novosti published an article a few days after the war started, which was later deleted, that referred to accomplishing "a final solution to Ukrainians".

Asked what victory looks like to Ukraine, Mr Yatsenyuk told Matt: "The only victory I see is for Ukraine to restore its territorial integrity."

"All of it?" Matt said.

"Completely," Mr Yatsenyuk replied.

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