Vladimir Putin is decided to proceed bombing Ukraine “till the tip” regardless of a plea final night time from Volodymyr Zelensky for head to head talks to halt the navy assault.
In a sequence of cellphone and video calls on Thursday, the Russian president accused Kyiv of utilizing human shields and behaving “like Nazis”, hailed his fallen troopers as heroes and claimed the invasion was going “in response to plan”.
He informed members of his Kremlin safety council that Russia has solely bombed navy amenities and his troops have not focused residential areas – regardless of one other day of carnage during which the our bodies of Ukrainian civilians have been recovered from destroyed properties.
Putin reaffirmed his declare that the Russian navy was combating “neo-Nazis”, including that some Ukrainians have been additionally “fooled by nationalist propaganda”.
In a name with French president Emmanuel Macron, Putin was so undaunted by worldwide condemnation that an Elysee official bleakly concluded: “We anticipate that the worst is but to return.”
The official stated Putin initiated the one and half hour name however insisted there could be no let-up within the invasion, blamed the West for the battle and in addition “denied having bombarded Kyiv”.
Russian president Vladimir Putin
(AP)
Because the UN introduced the variety of refugees fleeing Ukraine had soared previous a million, Zelensky despatched a message to Putin asking for in-person talks – and even joked concerning the Russian chief’s much-ridiculed lengthy tables.
“Depart our land,” he stated. “For those who do not need to depart now, sit down with me on the negotiating desk. However not from 30 metres away. I do not chew. What are you afraid of?”
Ukrainians confronted one other grim day with dwindling provides. In Kyiv, snow gave option to a chilly, gray drizzle, as lengthy strains fashioned exterior the few pharmacies and bakeries that stay open.
A Russian convoy, which earlier within the week had appeared poised to launch an assault on the capital, has been stalled by gasoline and meals shortages some 16 miles north of the capital, a US official stated.
New shelling was reported within the northern metropolis of Chernihiv, the place emergency officers stated a minimum of 22 civilians had been killed in a Russian bombardment of a residential space.
Households with youngsters fled through muddy and snowy roads within the jap area of Donetsk, whereas navy strikes on the village of Yakovlivka close to the jap metropolis of Kharkiv destroyed 30 properties, leaving three useless and 7 wounded.
Russian forces battled for management of the southern metropolis of Enerhodar, house to the most important nuclear plant in Europe.
In the meantime one other spherical of delegate talks in Belarus yielded solely a tentative settlement to arrange protected corridors inside Ukraine to evacuate residents and ship humanitarian assist.
Heavy combating continued on the outskirts of one other strategic port, Mariupol, on the Azov Sea, plunging it into darkness, isolation and worry. Electrical energy and cellphone service have been largely down, and houses and outlets confronted meals and water shortages.
Slicing Ukraine’s entry to the shoreline would deal a crippling blow to its financial system and permit Russia to construct a land hall stretching from its border, throughout Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, and all the way in which west to Romania.
Earlier, the Russians introduced the seize of the Black Sea port of Kherson, making it the primary main metropolis to fall for the reason that invasion started per week in the past.
Reuters and the Related Press contributed to this report.
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Kaynak: briturkish.com
