‘Put an end to the war’: Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ultimatum to Vladimir Putin
As Russia launches more attacks, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given Vladimir Putin an ultimatum in a bid to end the conflict.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again called for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an effort to “put an end to the war”.
“I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it,” he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, adding that he was “not afraid to meet” Mr Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
“From the beginning, I have insisted on talks with the Russian president,” he said. “It’s not that I want (to meet him), it’s that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means.
“We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia,” he added.
Mr Zelenskyy also repeated his warning that they would break off talks if Russia killed the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol.
“If our men are killed in Mariupol and if these pseudo-referendums are organised in the (southern) region of Kherson, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” he said.
He was ready to exchange Ukraine’s soldiers defending the city “in whatever format” to save “these people who find themselves in a horrible situation, surrounded”.
He said the “last contact” with the Mariupol soldiers had been an hour ago, he said, adding “today is one of the hardest days” since the start of the Russian siege of the city at the beginning of March.
PUTIN REVEALS ENDGAME
Moscow is planning to take full control over eastern and southern Ukraine to connect Russia with Moldova.
Major General Rustam Minnekaev revealed Russia’s endgame in Ukraine a day after Vladimir Putin announced the “liberation” of Mariupol.
“Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are cases of Russian-speaking people being oppressed,” Minnekaev said.
Transnistria is a small breakaway region in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, where pro-Russia separatists have been armed and backed by Moscow.
Minnekaev’s comments were the most detailed description yet of Russia’s goals in the second phase of its operation, which began after its troops pulled back from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
To reach Moldova, Russia would have to capture the major Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa.
Ukraine said the war plan revealed the lie of Russia’s previous claims that it has no territorial ambitions.
“They stopped hiding it,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Twitter. Russia had “acknowledged that the goal of the ‘second phase’ of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.”
“They are not going to stop,” they said in a tweet. “After gaining control over the southern Ukraine, russia plans to invade Moldova, where they say Russian speakers are being “oppressed.”
They stopped hiding it. Today, the command of russian looters, rapists and murderers acknowledged that the goal of the “second phase†of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 22, 2022
Moscow escalated its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 after recognising the independence of the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in Ukraine’s Donbas, with the stated aim of protecting the Russian-speaking population there.
“Since the start of the second phase of the special operation... one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine,” said Minnekaev.
“This will provide a land corridor to Crimea,” he added, referring to the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
SECRET TANK GRAVEYARD IN RUSSIA
Spy drones revealed massive “tank graveyard” 10 miles inside the Russian border.
Ukraine intelligence pictured the secret bunker where dozens of damaged military equipment has been dumped in a field near Golovchino village, according to The Sun.
A Ukrainian-built Leleka drone filmed 57 military vehicles at the site, including at least 17 tanks that appeared to be T-72s and more modern T-90s.
There were also several artillery guns including MSTA mobile howitzers, smaller 2S3 Akatsiya guns, mechanised bridges, armoured fighting vehicles and two tank recovery vehicles.
“All the Russian vehicles that come to Ukraine will end up in a place like this. It is a tank graveyard. A cemetery,” Ukraine’s intelligence unit commander, “Ranger”, told the outlet.
Ukraine claims it has destroyed more than 800 tanks and 2,000 armoured vehicles since the start of the conflict, mostly with British NLAW missiles and US Javelins.
Satellite pictures confirmed there were no vehicles at the site at Golovchino village when Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation”, February 24 and only a handful on March 17.
Many of the vehicles are believed to have come from the Sumy region following Russia’s retreat in late March, with working tanks and guns being redeployed to the Donbas.
“The fact these tanks have been left behind in Golovchino tells us they are no use to Russia.” an intelligence source said.
Drone footage shows a Russian tank graveyard near Kyiv in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/lrw9uDOwIr
— The Sun (@TheSun) April 20, 2022
PUTIN AGREES TO MEET UN CHIEF
The Kremlin confirmed on Saturday that Mr Putin would meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday next week before meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine about the war.
Guterres will see Mr Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s foreign minister on Friday, two days after visiting Moscow, the United Nations said in a statement.
Guterres sent letters this week requesting in-person meetings to regain the initiative for the UN which has been marginalized from the crisis since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 due to a division among the UN Security Council permanent members: the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia.
China has refused to condemn the invasion, depicting Russia as a victim of Western efforts to weaken it.
With the letters he sent on Wednesday, Guterres sought to spur dialogue to end the war.
“At this time of great peril and consequence, he would like to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said this week.
Guterres has had little contact with Mr Zelenskyy since the war began, speaking with him just once by telephone, on March 26.
Putin has not taken Guterres’s phone calls, or had any contact with him, since the UN chief stated that the invasion violated the UN charter
AUSTRALIA SANCTIONS PUTIN’S DAUGHTERS
Australia has imposed financial sanctions on 147 more people – including two of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughters – in response to the war in Ukraine.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said that Mr Putin’s daughters Katerina, 35, and Maria, 36, along with a daughter of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, were the latest to be sanctioned in relation to the illegal invasion.
“These listings are consistent with our approach to those who have benefited from the Russian regimen, including immediate family members of those in power,” Senator Payne said.
“The three individuals have been sanctioned by like-minded partners of Australia.”
Mr Putin had two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva and it is possible he has a third with a girlfriend, but this has never been confirmed.
The US and UK earlier this month put sanctions on his two adult children.
Maria is a medical researcher living in Moscow, while Katerina is an acrobatic dancer who divorced Russian billionaire Krill Shamalov about four years ago.
It brings the total number of individuals and entities sanctioned in relation to the way by Australia to 750.
“We will continue to increase costs on Russia, in co-ordination with partners, targeting those who bear responsibility for Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked aggression in Ukraine or hold levers of influence,” Senator Payne said.
The latest round of sanctions also targets 144 Russian senators who approved the illegitimate recognition of independence of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk on February 22.
Two days later, Mr Putin used this vote to justify the invasion.
Mr Putin and Mr Lavrov were themselves sanctioned by Australia on February 27.
“The Australian government again reiterates our strongest support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the people of Ukraine,” Senator Payne said.
“We again call upon Russia to withdraw its military forces immediately from Ukraine.”
IMAGE SHOWS ‘MASS GRAVES’ HORROR
New satellite images appear to show mass graves potentially with hundreds of bodies that have been buried close to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Maxar Technologies said the mass graves were located on the northwestern edge of Manhush, about 20 kilometres of Mariupol, and close to village cemetery. There are four rows, with each row measuring about 85m per section - with up to 200 graves in each.
Maxar said the images show the expansion of the new set of graves began between March 23 and March 26 and have continued to grow in recent days.
Mariupol’s Mayor Vadym Boichenko said Russia was using lorries to dump bodies into the graves, and repeated his accusation of war crimes.
Mr Boichenko believed tens of thousands of citizens had been killed in Mariupol since the war began.
PUTIN CLAIMS ‘LIBERATION’
Vladimir Putin claimed “liberation” of the flattened city of Mariupol after ordering a blockade of Ukraine’s last defenders “so that not even a fly comes through”.
It came as the US rushed USD$800 million in new lethal military aid to Ukraine, with president Joe Biden saying Russia’s control of Mariupol was “questionable”.
“There is no evidence yet that Mariupol has completely fallen,” he said announcing the new weapons package.
The fate of the besieged port has become totemic as Russia battles to complete a land bridge connecting territories under its control in the Donbass with the Crimea peninsula.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said in televised comments that most of the city had been “liberated”, except for the sprawling Azovstal steel plant where some Ukrainian forces are still holed up.
Mr Putin hailed the operation as a success, and said his decision not to storm “securely blocked” plant was to safeguard the lives of Russian soldiers.
The city’s defenders holed up in the underground steel plant after nearly two months of fighting, which left the city largely razed to the ground.
Mr Shoigu said around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers remained inside the site, where the last pocket of resistance has been sheltering in a network of tunnels.
Up to 2,000 civilians are also enduring terrible conditions as they seek refuge inside the plant, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Putin said the “liberation” of Mariupol was a “success” for Russian forces but ordered Shoigu to call off the planned storming of the plant, dismissing it as “impractical”.
“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities. Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape,” Putin said.
Olexiy Arestovych, an advisor to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Russia had in fact admitted defeat in Mariupol and diverted forces further north.
Its aim was to reinforce the fight for all of Lugansk and Donetsk, two regions of Ukraine controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.
“They won’t succeed,” Arestovych warned.
The flow of Western military aid has helped force Russia to deflect its offensive to eastern Ukraine and accentuated the devastating pressure on places like Mariupol on the shores of the Sea of Azov.
US ANNOUNCES $800 MILLION AID PACKAGE
While latest military aide package may be too late to prevent Mariupol from falling, Mr Biden said it would help Kyiv in the fight to repel Russia from the Donbas region.
The Pentagon said the newest round will include 72, 155mm howitzers, 72 armoured vehicles to tow them, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, and more than 120 “Phoenix Ghost” tactical drones recently developed by the US Air Force specifically to address Ukraine’s needs.
Mr Biden said the new package was tailored to help Ukraine’s forces address the growing Russian offensive in the country’s east, which would be a different kind of fight than that in the north around Kyiv, where Ukrainian forces successfully beat the Russian invasion back in the first six weeks of the war.
Mr Biden also announced that Russia-affiliated ships would be banned from US ports, and that the US Treasury was putting up a fresh $500 million for Ukraine’s government so it can pay salaries and pensions and provide services.
Mr Zelenskyy, who has pushed strongly for more and heavier weaponry, said in a tweet that he was grateful for Biden’s announcement.
“This help is needed today more than ever! It saves the lives of our defenders of democracy and freedom and brings us closer to restoring peace” in Ukraine, he said.
The new package follows $800 million in military assistance announced by the White House last week, taking to $4 billion the amount the US has put up in arms and supplies for Ukraine’s forces since 2021.
MARIUPOL EVACUEES ARRIVE IN ZAPORIZHZHIA
Three school buses filled with evacuees from the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday after crossing through territory held by Russian forces.
Women and children could be seen on the buses as they arrived after attempts to open a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol that has been delayed multiple times because of fierce fighting in southern Ukraine.
Exhausted evacuee Valentina, 73, said she urgently needed medication for her back as she clutched onto an electricity pole with dirt-covered hands to stop herself falling over.
“My apartment has been destroyed just like the house of my son,” she said, still wearing her slippers along with a torn black coat.
“From day one we were in a basement. It was cold. We were praying to God. I was asking him to protect us.” Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who was present to receive the buses, said the number of evacuees was far smaller than had been hoped for as the humanitarian corridor had not functioned properly.
“Nothing has worked. Only 79 people could come. There were no green corridors,” she said.
“A lot of people have been robbed by the Russians,” she said. Strategic port Mariupol has been a key target for Russia in its attack on Ukraine and devastating bombardments have left swathes of the city in ruins.
Vereshchuk said there were almost 1,000 people in the plant waiting for a humanitarian corridor and 500 injured soldiers.
“If shelling starts, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has to know that he’s bombarding women and children,” she said.
“We are ready to organise more convoys but the Russians must allow it.” Putin on Thursday ordered his defence minister to call off the planned storming of Azovstal and to impose a blockage around the plant.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry called for a humanitarian route from the factory to be opened immediately to allow civilians and injured soldiers to leave
RUSSIA SANCTIONS FACEBOOK FOUNDER MARK ZUCKERBERG
Russia slapped travel bans on US Vice President Kamala Harris, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and dozens of prominent Americans and Canadians in retaliation for sanctions imposed over Ukraine.
The Russian foreign ministry said the travel restrictions on 29 Americans and 61 Canadians — which also includes defence officials, business leaders and journalists from both countries — would remain in effect indefinitely.
The US list includes ABC News television presenter George Stephanopoulos, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, and the Russia-focused Meduza news site’s editor Kevin Rothrock.
The US defence officials include Pentagon spokesman John Kirby and Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks.
The list of Canadians is headed by Cameron Ahmad, who serves as director of communications to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Canadian Special Operations Forces Commander Steve Boivin.
The foreign ministry said the list was comprised of people responsible for the two countries’ “Russophobic” policies.
Russia had earlier banned Facebook and Instagram, which form part of Zuckerberg’s Meta empire, calling them “extremist” organisations.
UKRAINE SAYS RUSSIA RETURNS 19 PRISONERS
Ukraine said Thursday it had received 19 military personnel and civilians captured by Russia, in the latest prisoner swap after two months of fighting.
“Today we are returning home 19 people, including 10 military personnel — two of whom are officers — and nine civilians,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on social media.
She did not give details of the exchange, including where or when the swap occurred or whether Ukraine returned detainees to Moscow.
“This time, there are wounded among the released, and this is very important. After all, now they will be able to receive full treatment and undergo rehabilitation,” Vereshchuk added.
The exchange is the latest that Ukraine says it has conducted with the Russian side since Moscow’s launched its invasion on February 24.
There was no confirmation from Moscow of the swap or how many Russian prisoners had been exchanged.
Vereshchuk said the swap was made possible by the personal involvement of President Zelenksyy.
It comes as both sides have shown videos of high-profile detainees. Ukraine earlier this week aired video showing Viktor Medvedchuk, a detained pro-Russia tycoon and ally of President Putin, saying he wanted to be exchanged for civilians and troops from the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Russia, at the same time, broadcast footage of a British national and another man it identified as a UK citizen captured fighting for Ukraine demanding that Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiate their release.
MORE THAN 2,000 CIVILIAN DEATHS
In all, according to new United Nations figures, at least 2,345 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia invaded on February 24.
In morgues around the capital, the bodies of some 1,020 civilians are being stored after Russian troops withdrew from the region, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna told AFP.
The bodies of nine civilians, some showing signs of torture, have been found in the town of Borodyanka outside Kyiv, Ukrainian police said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, visiting Borodyanka, said he was “shocked to witness the horror and atrocities of Putin’s war”.
In Bucha near Kyiv, some 400 bodies have been discovered since the Russians withdrew on March 31, local police chief Vitaly Lobas said. Around a quarter of them are still unidentified.
Originally published as ‘Put an end to the war’: Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ultimatum to Vladimir Putin
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