Lviv Mayor: Putin Wants To ‘Completely Destroy Ukraine’

During a Fox News interview on Tuesday, the mayor of Lviv, Ukraine, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “completely destroy Ukraine.”

“You must know Russia was, is, and will always [a] source of threat for Ukraine and democratic countries in [the] world,” Lviv’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

As Russia has invaded separatist regions of Ukraine and appears ready to invade the rest of the country, multiple countries and organizations have moved their officials from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to Lviv.

“NATO and allied countries are monitoring and assessing the situation very closely, and continue to take all the necessary measures. The safety of our personnel is paramount, so staff have been relocated to Lviv and Brussels,” the NATO official said in a statement, according to The Hill. “The NATO offices in Ukraine remain operational. We continue to call on Russia to de-escalate and choose the path of diplomacy.”

According to Russia expert Rebekah Irina Koffler, Russia could potentially target Kyiv and replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with a pro-Russian leader.

“I cannot rule out the possibility of Putin’s authorizing a ‘decapitation’ strategy, targeting Kyiv, to force Zelensky to flee, so Moscow can install a pro-Russian leader. At minimum, a crippling cyber warfare campaign will target Kiev, including its power grid,” Koffler said. “This will be a swift blitzkrieg type operation. Whether Putin decides to target only Eastern Ukraine or Ukraine proper, Moscow will declare victory on February 23, the Soviet Army Day.”