After the Ukrainian offensive President Volodymyr Zelenskyy campaigned for the trust of the population in the Russian-occupied areas. “Russian propagandists intimidate the people in the territories still controlled by the occupiers, saying that Ukraine supposedly almost everyone who stays in the occupied territories as collaborators. Absolutely crazy stuff,” says Zelenskyj in his daily video speech. Anyone who hasn’t offered their services to the Russians has nothing to fear, he says.
The President emphasizes that there was only isolated support for the Russian occupiers given, although “hundreds of thousands” were temporarily under the occupying power. In doing so, he contradicts the Russian interpretation that the majority of people in the four occupied Ukrainian regions of Cherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia are striving for Russia. He also resigns the payment of pensions and social benefits in the regained territories.