Mykhailo Podolyak in an interview with Tagesschau

Ukraine has the right to defend its territory and wants to restore peace, and this requires the support of partners, including the provision of modern weapons. Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, stated this in an interview with Tagesschau.de.

"If we intensively break through the defense line of the Russian army, the next step will be the return of territories and the destruction of the armed forces of the Russian Federation. And this requires a certain amount of armored vehicles and tanks. But these should not be ineffective Soviet tanks - either T-55, or T-64, or even T-72. That's why we're telling our partners, especially Germany: if you want to take the lead, if you want us to have fewer casualties, and if you want this war to end sooner, give us the Leopard 2," Mykhailo Podolyak said.

The Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President emphasized that the Ukrainian military can very quickly learn to use new weapons of any complexity, which has been proven more than once.

"There is nothing impossible for us. And we also say: open educational centers, but with a shortened programme," he said.

Mykhailo Podolyak stated that today the Ukrainian troops at the front use almost all types of artillery, which they did not even have before the start of a full-scale war.

"Are we using them effectively? Did we quickly learn to use them? Yes! We can do it right. And this is exactly what we are explaining to Germany. I want to tell the Federal Government a very simple thing: we are learning things very quickly. But we will always emphasize that we learned so quickly because the Germans were on our side," he added.

Answering a question about whether there is a threat of escalation by Russia after holding sham referenda in captured Ukrainian territories in the event of a successful counteroffensive by Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak said: "What is escalation? World War III? There is a country that uses cruise missiles that take off from the Caspian Sea and attack cities like Lviv and Kyiv. A country that destroys civilian infrastructure, massively kills people in Bucha, takes the life of an entire family in Izyum. What do you mean by escalation and World War III? Only the use of nuclear weapons? But we use conventional weapons."

The Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine is convinced that the fact that Russia is a nuclear power should not stop Ukraine from protecting its territory.

"If we stop, they will at some point drive their tanks into Dnipro, then into Kyiv and declare these cities Russia as well. This way we will completely lose Ukraine. There is no escalation. There is Ukraine, which has the right to defend its territory. We want to restore peace. This requires support with conventional weapons," Mykhailo Podolyak noted.