Ukrainian President Zelensky says Russia 'doesn't have the courage' to admit defeat

Kyiv, Ukraine

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In a video address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday (July 12) claimed that Russia "doesn't have the courage" to admit defeat in Ukraine. Zelensky also warned the Russian military force that it is not that safe "anywhere on our land". 

Zelensky said: They [Russia] no longer have strategic power, character, or understanding of what they are doing here, on our land. There is not an iota of courage to admit defeat and withdraw troops from the Ukrainian territory." 

Mocking the Russian apparent ageing weapons and Soviet-era tactics, Zelensky said that the occupiers have already "felt very well what modern artillery is". He added that they will not have a "safe rear anywhere on our land". 

The Ukrainian president hailed the country's unity and insisted that the combination of unity of citizens and the strength of Ukraine’s armed forces meant the outcome of the war was "certain". 

He said, "They have felt that the operations of our reconnaissance officers to protect their homeland are much more powerful than any of their ‘special operations’. Russian soldiers, and we know this from interceptions of their conversations, are truly afraid of our armed forces." 

"The so-called second army of the world is afraid of Ukrainians and is able to do something only on the basis of bottomless stocks of old Soviet weapons," he further said. 

"They no longer have strategic strength, character, or understanding of what they are doing here on our land. They also don’t have even an iota of courage to admit defeat and withdraw troops from Ukrainian territory," he added. 

Ukraine 'destroys' Russian arms depot 

His comments came on a day when Ukraine said it destroyed an arms depot as part of a barrage of rockets and missiles on Russian military targets in the southern part of the country. 

Ukrainian military officials said that the strikes in the Kherson region destroyed artillery, armoured vehicles "and a warehouse with ammunition in Nova Kakhovka". 

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