Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed by Russian forces in what he calls a “war of annihilation,” according to the New York Times.
Lead news: Russian forces will intensify their aggressive campaign against Ukraine, including in Kyiv, where forces have closed within 25 kilometers of the city center.
- Zelenskiy also said that Russian forces would have to destroy Kyiv in order to take control of the capital.
- “If there are hundreds of thousands of people that Russia is now mobilizing, and they come with hundreds or thousands of tanks, they will take Kyiv. We understand this,” he said.
- “The way the Ukrainian people resisted these occupiers has already gone down in history,” Zelenskiy said in a recent address. “But we have no right to reduce the intensity of defense, no matter how hard it may be for us.”
- Zelenskiy also offered to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Israel, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett could act as an intermediary.
Game state: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday urged Putin to declare an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine during a 75-minute conversation with the Russian leader, CNN reported.
- The leaders also urged Putin to “move to a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” according to German government spokesman Steffen Hebestrait.
- According to CNN, Scholz and Macron’s phone call with Putin was part of an ongoing international effort to end the war in Ukraine.
Big Picture: Hundreds of protesters in Melitopol, in southern Ukraine, took to the streets on Saturday to protest the detention of the city’s mayor on Friday by Russian troops, CNN reported.
- Zelenskiy on Friday warned of a “new stage of terror”, citing the kidnapping of the mayor of Melitopol by Russian troops.
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Editor’s Note: This is an evolving story. Please stay tuned for updates.