New Delhi: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday said that the continuing siege of the port city of Mariupol could scuttle attempts to negotiate an end to the war.
The statement came as Russian forces also renewed missile strikes on Kyiv and intensified shelling of Kharkiv.
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The attacks on the capital city Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, are being seen as Russia’s strategy to hobble Ukraine’s defences in preparation for what is expected to be a full-scale Russian assault in the east, as per the Associated Press.
As Mariupol remains under siege, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there, the AP reported.
He stressed that Ukraine needs more heavy weapons from the West immediately to have any chance of saving the city.
Russia’s military command vowed to step up missile strikes on Kyiv following the humiliating loss of the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet.
A day after targeting a missile plant, the Russians said they hit an armoured vehicle plant on Saturday.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the plant was among multiple Ukrainian military sites hit with air-launched high-precision long-range weapons, the AP reported.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has advised residents who fled the city earlier not to return.
“We’re not ruling out further strikes on the capital… If you have the opportunity to stay a little bit longer in the cities where it’s safer, do it,” he said, as reported by the AP.
The mayor said that Saturday’s strike killed one person while wounding several.
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Destruction Of Mariupol Can Put An End To Any Format Of Negotiations: Zelenskyy
“The destruction of all our guys in Mariupol what they are doing now can put an end to any format of negotiations,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
Later, in his nightly video address to Ukraine, the President said that country needs more support from the West to have a chance at saving Mariupol.
“Either our partners give Ukraine all of the necessary heavy weapons, the planes, and without exaggeration immediately, so we can reduce the pressure of the occupiers on Mariupol and break the blockade, or we do so through negotiations, in which the role of our partners should be decisive,” he stressed, as quoted by the AP.
Zelenskyy also stated that the situation in Mariupol remains inhuman and claimed that Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there.
Meanwhile, in the towns and villages just outside the Ukrainian capital city, authorities have reported finding the bodies of more than 900 civilians, since Russian troops retreated two weeks ago. Most of the deceased are reported to have been shot dead.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Saturday said that Russian forces have taken captive some 700 Ukrainian troops and more than 1,000 civilians,
“Ukraine holds about the same number of Russian troops as prisoners and intends to arrange a swap but is demanding the release of civilians without any conditions,” she added.
(With Agency Inputs)