Ukraine’s army chief shares war story that made him cry

General Zaluzhnyi shared his personal experience in an interview with journalist Dmytro Komarov.

"I am a human being. Once I cried when a mother was looking for her son. He was a helicopter pilot and was flying to Mariupol. At the time, while I was texting with her, I had hope that he was alive and everything would be fine. And at one point I was informed that, unfortunately, he was killed, he was gone. And I had to somehow clarify this situation with his mother. Because the mom sent me his text message. Before the flight, he wrote a text message saying that he was a patriot. That even if he was gone, he wanted people to know that he was a normal person. And when I tried to discuss this issue with my mother, I didn't have the strength," Zaluzhnyi said.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces told the journalist that he remembers the name of the fallen soldier, but that the names of all those who gave their lives for Ukraine should be mentioned.

"I remember, but I'm not going to say it. There are a lot of them to name. They all deserve it," Zaluzhnyi said.

The general admitted that it is difficult to hear numerous reports of Ukrainian defenders being killed every day.

"It is bad. It is bad and hard. But what can we do," said Zaluzhnyi.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces also stated that Ukraine has no choice but to fight, as Russia's goal in the war is to exterminate Ukrainians.

"The strategic goal of the Russian Federation, in my opinion, was to destroy Ukrainian statehood as such. Apparently, they hoped that they would come in organized columns, people would greet them, and that would be the end of Ukrainian statehood. When Ukrainians began to resist, began to defend themselves, today they are deliberately coming here from Russia to deliberately kill Ukrainians. To kill them. And the essence of this war is that if we do not destroy this enemy now, we will be destroyed. Because they came deliberately for this cause and are now suffering huge losses, including in the Donetsk operational area, near Bakhmut, but they are still coming to kill Ukrainians. This is their goal," Zaluzhnyi said.

• Earlier, at the end of April, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi met with Supreme Allied Commander Europe Christopher Cavoli to discuss the situation at the frontline, scenarios, weapons supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and training of the Ukrainian military.