Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday. The Kiev leader stated that the meeting was important to “end the war” and said he was not afraid of the Moscow representative.
“I believe whoever started the war will be able to end it,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference in a metro station in central Kyiv. The Ukrainian leader reiterated that he was “not afraid” to meet with Putin if it would allow him to reach a peace deal between the two countries.
“I insisted from the start [a importância de] Negotiations with the Russian President,” said the Ukrainian leader. “It’s not like I want to [encontrálo]but that I have to meet him to resolve this conflict through diplomatic channels,” he added.
2 of 3 President of Russia Vladimir Putin during a meeting with leaders of the armed forces — Photo: Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
President of Russia Vladimir Putin at a meeting with leaders of the armed forces — Photo: Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
But while requesting a meeting with Putin, Zelenskyi also warned Russia that if Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Mariupol, in the southeast of the country, it would end all peace talks.
“If our men are murdered in Mariupol and if alleged referendums are organized in the Kherson region (south), Ukraine will withdraw from the whole negotiation process,” Zelenskyy said.
Not long before that, an attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol was “stopped” by Russian forces controlling much of that city in southeastern Ukraine. The city went to the point marked for boarding, but was “scattered” by the Russian military.
3 of 3 Candid picture shows Azovstal steel plant, symbol of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol — Photo: Alexander Ermochenko/REUTERS
Candid picture shows Azovstal Steel Plant, symbol of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol — Photo: Alexander Ermochenko/REUTERS
Some of them, the adviser added, were forced onto buses bound for Dokuchaievsk, a Russianheld town 80 kilometers north of Mariupol. “People had no right to get off buses,” he said. According to him, the Russians attributed the change in route to “the shelling of (Ukrainian) nationalists” in the area. “Once again, the Russians prevented a retreat,” Andryushchenko criticized.
After nearly two months of siege and bombardment, much of Mariupol, a strategic industrial port on the Sea of Azov, was occupied by Russian troops, but Ukrainian soldiers still holed up in the kilometers of tunnels at the Azov Steelworks.