"Dictators like Assad can't survive without dictators like Putin, and Putin will seek to avenge Assad's fall," the President wrote on Dec. 10.
Zelenskyy emphasized that unity and strength are necessary to counter regimes causing suffering, destruction, and humiliation.
He noted that international support for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian dictatorship helps restore security and protect other regions from violence.
He also stressed the importance of holding accountable those responsible for atrocities and human rights violations.
“Only Putin and Assad deserve prison, not the innocent people they’ve imprisoned for years,” Zelenskyy said.
He pointed out that Assad’s regime in Syria has stayed in power for decades through violence, adding that "all regimes supported by Putin are the same."
“We’ve seen the same prisons, torture chambers, unspeakable violence, humiliation, beatings, torture, rape, and other crimes in every town Russia occupied in Ukraine. Russia is a prison state that can hold stolen land only through its prisons and torture chambers,” the president stated.
Zelenskyy noted that Russian occupation always brings repression and torture.
He cited the 2014 Russian occupation of Crimea, which led to oppression of the Crimean Tatars, Ukraine’s largest Muslim community, as well as journalists and political figures.
He also mentioned the ongoing human rights violations in Donbas, particularly at the Izolyatsia prison.
"Since February 2022, Russia has expanded these practices to all other occupied territories. The atrocities have grown in scale and cruelty. That's why we, Ukrainians, are deeply moved when we see Syrians escaping Assad’s prisons and torture chambers," he added.