Prez Zelenskyy accuses Kremlin of deliberately creating “a humanitarian catastrophe”, appeals to Putin to meet with him
Policemen stand guard at the site where a bombing damaged residential buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine. Pic/AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Saturday, said Russian forces are blockading his country’s largest cities to wear the population down into submission, but he warned that the strategy will fail and Moscow will lose in the long run if it doesn’t end this war.
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Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin of deliberately creating “a humanitarian catastrophe ” and appealed for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with him, using a huge Moscow stadium rally where Putin lavished praise on Russian forces on Friday to illustrate what was at stake. The rally and a concert in Moscow were held to commemorate the anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. The rally took place as Russia has faced heavier-than-expected losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home. “Just picture for yourself that in that stadium in Moscow, there are 14,000 dead bodies and tens of thousands more injured and maimed. Those are the Russian costs throughout the invasion,” Zelenskyy said in a nightly video address to the nation recorded in Kyiv.
The Russian military reported on Saturday that it has used its latest hypersonic missile for the first time in combat. A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said Kinzhal missiles destroyed an underground warehouse storing Ukrainian missiles and aviation ammunition in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine. Konashenkov said Russian forces also used the anti-ship Bastion missile system to strike Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odesa. Russia first used the weapon during its military campaign in Syria in 2016.
Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed to establish 10 humanitarian corridors for bringing aid in and residents out from the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday. “The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia’s costs will be so high that you will not be able to rise again for several generations,” Zelenskyy said.
112 children killed so far in Ukraine war
The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said on Saturday that 112 children have been killed so far in the war in Ukraine. It also said on Telegram that 140 children had been wounded.
Twitter blocks senior Russian diplomat to UN
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, announced that, “I just wanted to announce that my Twitter [account] was blocked today. And I received a message from the client service saying that I’m violating the rules of Twitter and I’m engaged in abuse and harassment,” Polyanskiy told reporters.
Russian forces hit 69 Ukrainian military facilities
Russian aerospace forces hit 69 Ukrainian military facilities overnight, including four command posts and four anti-aircraft missile systems, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday. Russian air defense shot down 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.
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