LVIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday accused the West of cowardice, while another senior official said Russia is trying to split the nation in two like North and South Korea.
Zelenskyj desperately pleaded for fighter jets and tanks to protect his country from invading Russian troops. Russia now says its primary focus is on seizing control of the eastern Donbass region, an apparent setback from its earlier, more expansionary goals, but one that fuels fears of a divided Ukraine.
Speaking after US President Joe Biden said in a tearful speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin Biden says he hasn’t called for regime change in Russia. The US aims to confiscate Russian yachts. But it’s not easy for Ukraine to defeat Russia — but the West must help MORE couldn’t stay in power — words the White House immediately tried to downplay — Zelenskyy lashed out at the West’s “ping-pong about who and how jets should pass” and other weapons, while Russian missile strikes kill and trap civilians.
“I spoke to the Mariupol defenders today. I am in constant contact with them. Their determination, heroism and steadfastness are amazing,” Zelenskyy said in a video address, referring to the beleaguered southern city that has endured some of the greatest hardships and horrors of the war. “If only those who spent 31 days contemplating handing over dozens of jets and tanks had just 1% of their courage.”
Zelenskyy told independent Russian journalists on Sunday that his government would consider declaring neutrality and offering security guarantees to Russia, echoing earlier statements. This also includes keeping Ukraine nuclear-weapon-free, he said.
He told reporters that the issue of neutrality – and agreeing to stay out of NATO – should be put to Ukrainian voters in a referendum after Russian troops withdraw. He said a vote could take place within months of the troops withdrawing.
Russia quickly banned publication of the interview. Roskomnadzor, which regulates communications for Moscow, issued the ban and said action could be taken against the Russian media involved, including “those who are foreign media who act as foreign agents.”
Russia-based outlets appeared to be complying with the ban, despite the interview being published abroad.
Zelenskyy replied that Moscow was afraid of a relatively short conversation with journalists. “It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic,” he said, according to Ukrainian news agency RBK Ukraina.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has stalled on many fronts. Their goal of quickly encircling the capital, Kyiv, and forcing its surrender has been thwarted by staunch Ukrainian resistance, backed by US and other Western allies’ arms.
Moscow claims its focus is on wresting away the entire eastern Donbass region, which has been partially controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. A senior Russian military official said Friday that troops from other parts of the country were being diverted east.
Russia has supported separatist rebels in Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk since the uprising erupted there shortly after Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. In talks with Ukraine, Moscow has demanded that Kyiv recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, accused Russia of splitting Ukraine in two, comparing it to North and South Korea.
“The occupiers will try to draw the occupied territories into a single quasi-state structure and pit them against independent Ukraine,” Budanov said in a statement released by the Defense Ministry. He predicted that a guerrilla war by Ukrainians would derail such plans.
A Ukrainian delegate in talks with Russia over ending the war, Davyd Arakhamia, said in a Facebook post the countries would meet in Turkey starting Monday. However, the Russians then announced that talks would start on Tuesday. The sides have previously met without reaching an agreement.
Ukraine’s priorities at the talks are “sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zelenskyi told his nation in his late-night address.
“We seek peace, truly, without delay,” he said. “There is an opportunity and a need for a face-to-face meeting in Turkey.”
Zelenskyi also signed a law banning reporting on troop and equipment movements that have not been announced or approved by the military. Journalists who break the law face three to eight years in prison. The law does not distinguish between Ukrainian and foreign reporters.
Ukraine says that in order to defeat Russia, the West must supply warplanes, not just missiles and other military equipment. A proposal to route Polish aircraft to Ukraine via the United States was scrapped due to NATO concerns about being drawn into direct combat.
In his scathing remarks, Zelenskyy accused Western governments of “being afraid of preventing this tragedy. Afraid of just making a decision.”
His request was repeated by a priest in the western city of Lviv, which had been hit by rockets a day earlier. The airstrike made it clear that Moscow is ready to strike anywhere in Ukraine, despite claims that it intends to take the war east.
“If diplomacy doesn’t work, we need military support,” said Rev. Yuri Vaskiv, who said anxious parishioners were staying away from his Greek Catholic church.
On the road to Kyiv, residents of a village combed through the debris from the ongoing Russian attacks. Locals in Byshiv, about 35 kilometers from Kyiv. went through buildings that had been ripped up and destroyed by shells to salvage what they could, including books, shelves and framed pictures.
The teacher Svetlana Grybovska stood in a former kindergarten classroom and said that too many children had become victims.
“It’s not right,” Grybovska told British broadcaster Sky News. “Children are not to blame”
Russia confirmed it used air-launched cruise missiles to hit a fuel depot and defense facility in Lyiv, near the Polish border. Another sea-launched missile attack destroyed a depot in Plesetske, west of Kyiv, where Ukraine stocks air defense missiles, said Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russia’s successive airstrikes have rocked the city, which has become a haven for an estimated 200,000 people fleeing bombed cities. Lviv, which has largely escaped bombing, has also been a stopover for most of the 3.8 million refugees who have left Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24.
In a gloomy, overcrowded bomb shelter under an apartment block near the first blast site, Olana Ukrainets, a 34-year-old IT professional, said she couldn’t believe she was back in hiding after fleeing the northeast city of Kharkiv. one of the most bombed cities.
“We were on one side of the street and we saw it on the other side,” she said. “We saw fire. I said to my friend, ‘What is this?’ Then we heard the sound of an explosion and broken glass.”
In Kharkiv on Sunday, Ukrainian firefighters used axes and chainsaws to dig through concrete and other debris, searching for victims of a Russian military strike on the regional administration building. A body was found Saturday, a firefighter said. At least six people died in the March 1 attack — the first attack by Russian forces on central Kharkiv, which was once home to 1.5 million people.
On Sunday evening, a rocket attack hit an oil base in the extreme north-west of Volyn.
Along with the millions who have fled Ukraine, the invasion has displaced more than 10 million people, almost a quarter of Ukraine’s population. Thousands of civilians are said to have been killed.
Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Nebi Qena in Kyiv, Cara Anna in Lviv, and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.