"... The civilian infrastructure that contributes to the Ukrainian army’s ability to fight must be destroyed. If civilians suffer from this, it is very sad, but it is inevitable. In the end, let them take all their stuff and go to Europe before winter. Europe loves Ukrainians and Ukrainian democracy very much. Let it host another fifteen millions of Ukrainians. It will be right. It will be moral and ethical from the point of view of Western values. And let them be housed there for the winter. Let them live there, if it gets cold here in Ukraine, let them go there.

Plus, as far as bridges and roads and everything else. Look, I remember when we also asked these questions in March and April, the military, experts I was said, “Well, what do you know about it? These bridges are indestructible.” Really, impossible to destroy? Ah, look, what about the Crimean one – they took it and destroyed. Yeah, not the whole thing. But a span fell. So, it’s possible. So, you don’t do it for some other reasons.

When situations like this arise, then, yeah, you may have two suspicions immediately. You can’t do it, which is strange because, you know, it looks as if you could whenever you want or you’re playing some kind of behind-the-scenes games. But if you’re playing behind-the-scenes games, how can you ask for people’s trust? People’s trust is the most valuable thing you have. More valuable, so to speak, than all the high-precision weapons, and not just high-precision weapons, but any other weapons you count on. This is what we must cherish, because we can take some Liman or some Avdeyevka and lose Yekaterinburg or Vladivostok. Is that what you want? It should not be done. It should not be done, we need to choose the optimal way.

The optimal way would be to destroy the infrastructure, to hit the entrances, the transportation entrances of Western military aid. It has to be done. It has to be done in any case. Otherwise, there are a lot of questions that unfortunately have no answers."