A CNN journalist sharply addressed Ukrainians: for peace to come, we must first defend our country, right?

Portuguese CNN journalist Ireneu Teixeira, who has been covering the atrocities of the aggressor country since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, believes that Ukrainians are to blame for the long duration of the war. Many people have not decided who they are, so they cannot get rid of the invaders.

Ireneu spoke about his position in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA. In his opinion, peace can only come if people identify themselves as one nation and stand up to defend the country. In particular, the journalist considers himself "a Ukrainian more than Ukrainians themselves."

"I had to talk to some Ukrainians who said that they were neither Ukrainians nor Russians, but immigrants from the Soviet Union. They didn't care where they lived, either in Ukraine or Russia. They said they only wanted peace. But in order for peace to come, we must first defend our country, right?" the journalist explained his position.

Ireneu sometimes argued with people about the end of the war and, because of their indifference, even said that he was better suited to the role of a Ukrainian: "That's why I sometimes had such discussions with Ukrainians. I said to them: "Either you finally identify yourselves, or this war will never end!" And so, on emotion, I once said that I felt more like a Ukrainian than Ukrainians themselves."

He cited the example of Portugal, as the country also had to fight for its independence. Therefore, Ireneu calls for respect for their history, for which millions of people died.

"For me to be able to speak Portuguese with Portuguese today, many Portuguese died fighting for their freedom and the right to peace from the Spanish and others. You need to respect your history and the people who died for your country," the journalist said.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that Ireneu Teixeira believes that due to the lack of large-scale events at the front, the West is "tired of hearing" about the war. Because of this, it is becoming less and less common to hear news about Ukraine abroad.

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