REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to destroy an independent Ukrainian state.

Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk made the relevant statement in an interview with the .loyal magazine, answering a question about the Russian leader's goals.

The translation of the interview has been posted by the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany.

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"[Putin's] plan remains to destroy Ukraine as an independent state. This is his insane goal. To Putin, the pro-Western and democratic development of my Motherland is like an eyesore since it threatens his totalitarian and corrupt regime," the ambassador said.

Read alsoZelensky: Russia withdraws only about 10,000 troops from border with UkraineAccording to Melnyk, the Ukrainian Army is significantly inferior to the Russian one in many aspects, both in numbers and quality. However, Putin underestimated Ukraine's defensive capabilities and "broke his teeth on it."

The envoy stressed Ukraine may only achieve security when it becomes a member of a defensive military alliance such as NATO.

In the interview, Melnyk also said the restoration of Ukraine's nuclear status was not on the agenda in Kyiv so far. However, the majority of the population now views Ukraine's abandonment of its nuclear arsenal as a fatal mistake.

Earlier, in April, Melnyk called on the West to take Ukraine into NATO as soon as possible, otherwise Kyiv will have to consider restoring its nuclear status.

Also, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the signing with the United States and the European Union of Plan B, which would provide military security guarantees until the country joined NATO, and cover the issue of both restoring territorial integrity and ensuring energy security of Ukraine.