Ukraine war: Russian spy claims Putin ‘has three years to live’, US to send long-range rockets
Speculation about Vladimir Putin’s health issues continues to mount amid shock new claims from a Russian intelligence officer.
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Vladimir Putin has reportedly been warned he has just three to years to live as Russian intelligence sources become increasingly worried about his alleged health issues.
A Federal Security Service officer has described the Russian President’s condition as a “severe form of rapidly progressing cancer”, The Mirror reports.
The spy claimed Mr Putin has “no more than two to three years” left and he is also losing his sight, reports the Mirror.
News of the latest heath claims emerged as part of a secret message from the Russian agent to fugitive and former FSB agent Boris Karpichkov.
The message warned Mr Putin is refusing to wear glasses over fears it would admit a form of weakness, and he is now lashing out at his subordinates with “uncontrolled fury”.
US TO SEND LONG-RANGE ROCKETS
The US is planning to send advanced, long-range rocket systems to enhance the Ukraine military amid Russia’s blitz through the eastern front.
According to several officials cited by CNN, the Biden administration is considering the weapon systems as part of a larger package of military aid to be announced next week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has requested heavier weapons and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems as Vladimir Putin’s forces take village after village in the Donbas.
They can fire multiple rocked from distances further than any that Ukraine currently has in its arsenal, and they’re hoping they will be a gamechanger in the war.
The National Security Council, however, has concerns that Ukraine may use the systems to carry out offensive attacks on Russia, with officials quoted by CNN worried an increase in heavy weaponry will be viewed by Russia as a provocation that could escalate into a conflict with the US.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday accused the US, of waging a “total war” on Russia in its support of Ukraine.
“The West has declared war on us, on the whole Russian world. The culture of cancelling Russia and everything connected with our country is already reaching the point of absurdity,” Lavrov said at a ministry meeting.
He accused the West of banning Russian writers, composers and other cultural figures.
“It is safe to say that this situation will be with us for a long time,” he added.
According to Lavrov, Washington “and its satellites are doubling, tripling, quadrupling their efforts to contain our country”.
He said they are “using the widest range of tools -- from unilateral economic sanctions to thoroughly false propaganda in the global media space”.
“In many Western countries, everyday Russophobia has become of an unprecedented nature, and, to our great regret, is encouraged by government circles in a number of countries,” Lavrov said.
RUSSIA CLOSES IN ON KEY CITY IN DONBAS
Russian forces were closing in on the strategic city of Severodonetsk in a relentless offensive to control Ukraine’s Donbas region, bombing residential areas and claiming the capture of a key town.
At least nine people were killed in shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, raising fears that Russia had not lost interest in the northeastern hub even after Ukraine managed to take back control.
Around 10 people were also killed in Russian strikes on a military facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, well away from the frontline of the offensive, the regional head of the national guard said.
Three months after Russia launched its invasion on February 24, leaving thousands dead on both sides and forcing 6.6 million Ukrainians out of the country, Moscow is focusing on the east of Ukraine after failing in its initial ambition to capture Kyiv.
Russian forces were closing in on Severodonetsk and also Lysychansk, which stand on the crucial route to Ukraine’s eastern administrative centre in Kramatorsk.
“Russia is pressuring the Severodonetsk pocket although Ukraine retains control of multiple defended sectors, denying Russia full control of the Donbas,” the British defence ministry said in its latest briefing.
Oleksandr Stryuk, the head of the military and civilian administration of Severodonetsk, said two-thirds of its perimeter was already occupied by Russian forces and its chemical factory Azot had been bombed.
“The Russians have been trying to capture the city for a week-and-a-half. It is resisting thanks to the incredible efforts of our fighters,” he added, describing the Russian bombing as “incessant.” Pro-Russian separatists said they had captured the town of Lyman that lies between Severodonetsk and Kramatorsk, on the road leading to the key cities that are still under Kyiv’s control.
Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in a video on Telegram that at least five civilians had been killed in his region -- part of Donbas -- in the last 24 hours alone.
Four had been killed in Severodonetsk and one in Komyshovakha, 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, he said, accusing Russia of “ceaselessly shelling residential areas.” “People are willing to risk everything to get food and water,” said Oleksandr Kozyr, the head of the main aid distribution centre in Lysychansk.
“They are so psychologically depressed that they are no longer scared. All they care about is finding food,” he said.
MONSTERS OF MOTYZHYN MURDER
A gang of violent men who are accused of torturing civilians and forcing a mother to watch as they shot her son have been identified.
The group of Russian soldiers, known as Monsters of Motyzhyn, have been accused of at least 14 war crimes in Ukraine. Three of the eight men are from the private military Wagner Group.
Russian soldiers occupying Motyzhyn, almost 50km from Kyiv, butchered civilians who refused to collaborate with them, neighbours reported in April. Only three people survived the torture.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryan Vendiktova this week revealed the names of the soldiers accused of the brutal attack on civilians.
In a Facebook post, Vendiktova outlined an investigation found the gang kidnapped Motzyhyn major Olga Sukhenko, her husband Igor and son Alexander from their home in March, and they tried to beat information out of them.
The Russian soldiers are accused of forcing the mayor to watch as her son was first shot in the leg and then the head. The family died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The group are also accused of shooting a woman in the head for wearing black, while her father was taken hostage in a barn and kept handcuffed and blindfolded with limited food or water.
Two people who were volunteering to transport aid were also tortured, forced to strip in a forest and shot. One survived.
While another man was tied to a quad bike and forced to run behind it for 1km, then interrogated, beaten, threatened to be killed and forced to spend several days in a sewer pit.
Venediktova also said the group of soldiers shelled and set fire to residents homes and took people’s mobile phones.
Venediktova accused the following men of being behind these brutal attacks:
- Senior Lieutenant Oleg Krikunov, platoon commander from the 37th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army
- Sergeant Chingis Gonchikov, branch commander, combat vehicle commander from the 37th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army
- Sergeant Alexandr Vanchikiv, division commander from the 37th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army
- Sergeant Magomedmirza Suleymanov, combat vehicle commander from the 37th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army
- Senior Lieutenant Vitaliy Dmitriev, platoon commander from the 37th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army
- Sergey Sazanov, private military Wagner Group mercenary
- Sergey Sazonov, command vehicle driver from the Wagner Group
- Aleksandr Stupnitskiy, reconnaissance and communications officer from the 1st Reconnaissance and Assault Platoon of the 1st Reconnaissance and Assault Company of the Wagner Group.
Venediktova’s office said it is looking into more than 10,700 potential war crimes involving more than 600 suspects, including Russian soldiers and government officials, reports to The Sun.
RUSSIA SCRAPS ARMY AGE LIMIT
Russia may be looking to recruit more troops after its parliament passed a law to abolish the upper age limit of people joining the army.
Currently only Russians aged 18 to 40 and foreign nationals aged 18 to 30 can join their military service.
Both houses of parliament backed the bill, news.com.au reports.
It comes after Russia announced more than 1000 troop deaths in Ukraine since launching its operation in February.
However, the UK Ministry of Defence says the number is closer to 15,000.
RUSSIA REHEARSES DESTROYING THE WEST
Vision has emerged of Russian military performing training drills with massive missile launchers that could destroy the West in minutes.
Several heavy armoured vehicles including hypersonic ballistic missile launchers could be seen travelling through a forest in the Ivanovo region on Tuesday local time.
The Yars and Topol M missiles seen in the rehearsals are some of Russia’s deadliest weapons, according to The Sun.
Yars can carry six warheads and hit targets at more than 25,000km/h.
Vladimir Putin’s latest chilling threat comes one day after ally Dmitry Rogozin said Russia was set to deploy 50 of its “unstoppable” Satan-2 nuke.
The 188-tonne RS-28 Sarmat missile stands at 14 storeys high, can carry 15 warheads and has the potential to wipe an area to size of the United Kingdom from the map.
The training drills also come on the back of the Russian leader last week staring to deploy nuclear missiles towards its border with Finland.
RUSSIA’S ‘LARGEST ATTACK ON EUROPEAN SOIL SINCE WWII’
Russia has launched a new offensive to encircle breakaway regions in the Donbas in what Ukraine has called the largest assault on European soil since World War II.
The battle to trap Ukrainian troops on the eastern front and seize the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk comes as Kharkiv reopened its underground metro, and Britain considered sending the Royal navy to protect grain shipments in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba urged allies to accelerate the delivery of heavy weapons and ammunition, “especially MLRS, long-range artillery, APCs”, as Russia rolled across the Donbas in the newest phase of the war.
“Too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the arms it needs. Russian offensive in the Donbas is a ruthless battle, the largest one on European soil since WWII,” he said in a tweet.
Too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the arms it needs. Russian offensive in the Donbas is a ruthless battle, the largest one on European soil since WWII. I urge partners to speed up deliveries of weapons and ammunition, especially MLRS, long-range artillery, APCs.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 24, 2022
Russian forces have focused attacks on the Ukrainian held city of Sievierodonetsk on the east bank of the Siverskiy Donets river, and Lysychansk on the west of the river.
The governor of Lugansk said Russia had sent thousands of troops to capture his region and that Severodonetsk was under massive attack.
Sergiy Gaidai warned an estimated 15,000 civilians still in the city that it was too late to leave.
“Stay in a shelter, because such a density of shelling will not allow us to calmly gather people and come for them,” he said on Telegram.
He later said four people died on Tuesday after Russian forces fired on the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk, where several bomb shelters had been set up.
Civilians were being evacuated from the frontline town of Lyman, which was also being battered by heavy shelling.
The self-proclaimed leader of the Moscow-backed separatist region of Donetsk said Russian and separatist forces have already captured half of Lyman.
“The active phase of the liberation of Krasny Liman is underway,” separatist leader Denis Pushilin said on the pro-Kremlin Solovyov Live YouTube program, using the old name for Lyman.
Lyman lies on the road to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the capital of the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region of Donetsk.
“Krasny Liman will also soon be a liberated settlement,” Pushilin added. “Svyatogorsk will come afterwards and then Slavyansk.”
Slovyansk, further west, is one of the biggest cities in the Donbas that remains under Ukrainian control. Separately, the Ukrainian army announced that Russians were now in control of the town of Svitlodarsk, also in the Donetsk region.
Pushilin said Russian and separatist forces have now taken control of 28 settlements in the north of the region of Donetsk.
While neither side officially commented on Pushilin’s claims, Russia earlier signalled it was digging in for a long war in Ukraine.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the slow advance was their “deliberate” attempt to avoid civilian casualties, but that they would continue until “all the objectives have been achieved”.
The secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, added in an interview: “We are not rushing to meet deadlines.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky “the most difficult fighting situation” would come in the Donbas, where Russian troops were conducting non-stop offensive operations and heavy bombardment.
“The coming weeks of the war will be difficult,” he said.
PUTIN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS
Russian President Vladimir Putin is believed to have survived five assassination attempts and is now so fearful for his life he has surrounded himself with an elite team of snipers.
The claims came as rumours continue to swirl about Mr Putin’s health amid new footage showing him having a meeting with his close ally, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Mr Putin grimaced and appeared to gasp back breaths as he awkwardly perched on his chair and sat hunched forward in front of the cameras during the meeting in Sochi.
His left foot appeared to continuously move as he unnaturally pivoted on his heel three times in less than one minute.
The dictator also rubbed his fingers together as his hands appeared to twitch — flexing them and forcing his thumb into his palm.
The most recent assassination attempt is thought to have taken place at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although details are only now emerging. The Sun reports.
Ukraine’s Chief of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov said the “unsuccessful attempt”, which happened about a month into the war, has previously not been publicly revealed.
He told Ukrainian Pravda: “Putin was assassinated …
“He was even attacked in the line of, as they say, representatives of the Caucasus not so long ago,” he told Pravda, according to a translation of the Ukrainian publication.
“This is non-public information. Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really took place … It was about 2 months ago.”
“Once again, he was unsuccessful. There is no publicity about this event, but it took place.”
While there was no further detail as to exactly when, where, how or who was behind the failed attempt on his life, the publication teased a full interview with the intelligence officer in the coming days.
The latest assassination attempt is the most recent in a reported string of incidents.
During a state visit by Mr Putin to Azerbaijan in 2002 an Iraqi man was arrested after apparently plotting to kill the Russian President, The Sun reports.
In November 2002 details of another plot on Mr Putin’s life emerged when 40 kilograms of explosives were set to detonate along a motorway near the Kremlin.
The devices then mysteriously disappeared and Mr Putin’s car was rerouted, The Sun reports.
British anti-terror police reportedly thwarted a plot to kill Mr Putin in October 2003 while Chechen Adam Osmayev was paraded on Russian television after an alleged plot to assassinate Mr Putin was foiled in 2012.
PUTIN ‘STRICKEN WITH CANCER’ EX-SPY CLAIMS
Mr Putin has reportedly been unwell for five years and is constantly surrounded by a team of doctors monitoring his health.
And an ex spy from British intelligence agency MI6 said the ongoing health problems had left the Kremlin in “increasing disarray and chaos”.
Christopher Steele, who previously worked the Russia desk at MI6, said he has to bow out of meetings to undergo treatment and that he was “constantly” being followed around with doctors. But even when he is present, the renowned control freak provides “no clear political leadership.”
Independent Russian media outlet Proekt reported he was constantly followed by medics and repeatedly disappeared from view for extended periods of time.
They compared doctors’ check-in dates with Mr Putin’s schedule and calculated that between five and 13 doctors were alongside him in 2016 and 2017.
They included an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist, an infectious disease specialist, a neurosurgeon and an oncologist.
He disappeared from the public eye in November 2016 for around six days, only appearing in prerecorded meetings.
The Proekt probe found that 12 specialist doctors checked into Sochi hospital, situated close to one of the Russian President’s residences.
Neurosurgeons, his personal doctor and a rehabilitation specialist were all on hand, fuelling rumours he had been unwell.
At other times, cancer specialists have visited Mr Putin – up to 35 times over four years. One,
oncologist-surgeon Evgeny Selivanov, wrote a thesis titled ““Peculiarities of diagnostics and surgical treatment of elderly and senile patients with thyroid cancer”.
RUSSIAN WAR CRIMINAL SENTENCED TO LIFE
A 21-year-old Russian soldier who killed a civilian was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to life in prison.
In the first verdict against Moscow’s forces since their invasion, judge Sergiy Agafonov said that Vadim Shishimarin was also found guilty of premeditated murder in the killing of 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in the first days of the invasion into northeast Ukraine.
the court found
“The murder was committed with direct intent,” judge Agafonov said. “Shishimarin violated the laws and customs of war.”
The soldier told the court last week that he shot Shelipov under pressure from another soldier as they tried to retreat back to Russia in a stolen car on February 28th, the fourth day of Moscow’s invasion.
Shishimarin apologised and asked Shelipov’s widow for forgiveness. The landmark ruling is expected to be followed by others, with Ukraine opening thousands of war crimes cases since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent in his troops.
The youthful serviceman looked on from the glass defence box as the verdict was read out in Ukrainian. An interpreter translated for him into Russian.
Shishimarin’s lawyer Viktor Ovsyannikov said he will appeal the verdict. “This is the most severe sentence and any level-headed person would challenge it,” Ovsyannikov, said, adding: “I will ask for the cancellation of the court’s verdict”.
He said that “you can feel societal pressure” on the court’s decision. But prosecutor Andriy Syniuk said the ruling was fair.
“I consider the verdict to be lawful and justified,” he told reporters, saying he was “completely satisfied” with the outcome.
Rights organisations have expressed hope that Ukraine’s trials against Russian soldiers will be impartial and transparent.
The Kremlin said before the sentencing Monday that while it was “concerned” over Shishimarin’s fate, it was unable provide on-the-ground assistance because there is no Russian diplomatic presence in Ukraine.
“That doesn’t mean we won’t try through other channels. The fate of every Russian citizen is of paramount importance to us,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters
RUSSIAN BODIES PILE UP
Shocking new video shows the bodies of dead Russian soldiers piling up in refrigerated trains.
Ukraine said it was keeping the bodies to hand back to the fallen soldiers relatives.
The footage, shared by Ukraine’s railway chief Alexander Kamyshin, shows people wearing white forensic suits moving bodies in white bags onto the trains and placing them in piles inside the carriages.
The captions on the video said: “We treat dead #russians better than they treat live #ukrainians. Just another thing that makes us different.”
The Ukraine video said the country preserves the bodies “according to humanitarian law, to release them to mothers and wives.”
“Russia hides real losses from families. To avoid panic and to avoid payment of compensations,” it said.
The grim video ends with a message that Russia’s “cargo of 200 is waiting on demand”.
Cargo 200 is a Soviet military code for war casualties.
Ukraine claims about 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since Vladimir Putin launched the brutal war earlier this year.
Ukraine’s official statistics suggest that the Russian President has also lost over 1,200 tanks, 204 planes and 13 boats.
‘THOUSANDS’ OF UKRAINIAN BUILDINGS DESTROYED
Three months after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, its military forces have damaged and destroyed thousands of Ukrainian buildings, including cultural sites, hospitals, schools and residences, and Ukrainian officials are taking stock of the damage.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that nearly 2000 educational institutions had been destroyed by Russian forces since the invasion began on February 24.
“This is a colossal scale of losses,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
Last Friday, a Russian missile strike in Lozova in the Kharkiv Oblast region damaged more than 1000 apartments, Mayor Serhiy Zelensky said in a video, according to CNN.
“The figures are shocking: 11 educational institutions, including five schools … Our Palace of Culture was completely destroyed, too,” the mayor said.
In Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, from which Russian forces withdrew last weekend after months of bombardment, about 30 per cent of the 8000 some residential high-rises were “more or less destroyed,” Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security said in a Telegram post over the weekend.
Ukrainian politicians on Sunday local time extended by 90 days both the general mobilisation of forces and a decree of martial law.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested the extension until August 23, saying a counteroffensive would take time, according to Ukrainian media start-up Hromadske International.
Fedir Venislavsky, Zelenskyy’s representative in the Constitutional Court, said the martial law order could be lifted at any time by the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, according to Ukrayinska Pravda.
EU BID COULD TAKE ‘15 TO 20 YEARS’
Meanwhile, a bid by Ukraine to join the European Union would not be finalised for “15 or 20 years,” France’s Europe minister said on Sunday local time, pouring cold water on Kyiv’s hopes for quick entry in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
“We have to be honest. If you say Ukraine is going to join the EU in six months, or a year or two, you’re lying,” Clement Beaune told Radio J.
“It’s probably in 15 or 20 years, it takes a long time.” “I don’t want to offer Ukrainians any illusions or lies,” he said, reiterating an offer by President Emmanuel Macron to create a looser “European political community” that could help integrate Ukraine with the bloc sooner.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday denounced “such compromises” and insisted on an immediate start of the process towards full EU membership.
But Mr Beaune said Mr Macron’s proposal is not “an alternative to joining the European political community. It doesn’t prevent membership later on.”
Under Mr Macron’s plan, “there could be free circulation in Europe, and it could benefit from the European budget for reconstruction and the revival of its country, society and economy,” he said.
Some EU leaders share France’s scepticism about a rapid acceptance of Ukraine’s membership bid, concerned that it will take time to rebuild a war-shattered economy, reduce corruption and adopt far-reaching economic and legal reforms.
On Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there were “no shortcuts” to joining and the accession process “is not a matter of a few months or years”.
Many Western leaders believe Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion on February 24 in response to Ukraine’s pro-Western aspirations, but Beaune rejected any blame on Kyiv.
“The person who sought this war, the aggressor, is Mr Putin,” he told Europe 1 radio in an interview earlier Sunday, while insisting “Ukraine is Europe”.
The EU’s goal is to “avoid any Russian victory”, he said, adding: “Our support is legitimate. If Europe said, ‘Go ahead, Mr Putin’s Russia can do what it wants,’ it would be dangerous for our security.” Macron’s “European political community” initiative will be debated at an EU summit in late June.
RUSSIA INTENSIFIES PUSH FOR DONBAS REGION
After just over 12 weeks of fierce fighting, Ukrainian forces have halted Russian attempts to seize Kyiv and the northern city of Kharkiv, but they are under intense pressure in the eastern Donbas region.
Moscow’s army has flattened and seized the Black Sea port of Mariupol and subjected Ukrainian troops and towns in the east to relentless ground and artillery attacks.
Mr Zelenskyy’s Western allies have shipped modern weaponry to his forces and imposed sweeping sanctions on the Russian economy and President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
The Kremlin has responded by disrupting European energy supplies.
On Saturday, Russian energy giant Gazprom said it had halted supplies to neighbouring Finland as it had not received the rouble payments it was due.
Helsinki had refused to pay its bill in roubles, which Moscow had demanded in a bid to sidestep financial sanctions and force European energy clients to prop up his central bank.
In 2021, Gazprom supplied about two thirds of the country’s gas consumption but only eight per cent of its total energy use.
Gasum, Finland’s state-owned energy company, said it would use other sources, such as the Balticconnector pipeline, which links Finland to fellow EU member Estonia.
Moscow cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria last month, a move the European Union denounced as “blackmail”, but importers in some other EU countries more dependent on Russian gas plan to open rouble accounts with Gazprom’s bank.
NATO MEMBERSHIP BID
The row over Finland’s gas bill comes just days after Finland and neighbouring Sweden broke their historical military non-alignment and applied to join NATO.
Public support for the alliance has soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow has warned Finland that joining NATO would be “a grave mistake with far-reaching consequences”.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said it would respond by building military bases in western Russia.
But both Finland and Sweden are now apparently on the fast track to join the military alliance, with Mr Biden this week offering “full, total, complete backing” to their bids.
All 30 existing NATO members must agree however, and Turkey has condemned Sweden’s alleged tolerance for the presence of exiled Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Swedish and Finnish leaders to abandon financial and political support for what he called “terrorist” groups.
Turkey would not look “positively” on their bids unless its terror-related concerns were addressed, he warned.
WAR CAN ONLY END WITH TALKS: ZELENSKYY
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that only a diplomatic breakthrough rather than an outright military victory could end Russia’s war on his country, as Moscow cut gas supplies to Finland.
Mr Zelenskyy also appealed for more military aid, even as US President Joe Biden formally signed off on a $40 billion package of aid for the Ukrainian war effort.
And he insisted his war-ravaged country should be a full candidate to join the EU, rejecting a suggestion from France’s President Emmanuel Macron and some other EU leaders that a sort of associated political community be created as a waiting zone for a membership bid.
“We don’t need such compromises,” Mr Zelenskyy said during a joint news conference with visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
“Because, believe me, it will not be compromise with Ukraine in Europe, it will be another compromise between Europe and Russia.”
Speaking on Ukrainian television on Saturday, Mr Zelenskyy said: “There are things that can only be reached at the negotiating table.”
The war “will be bloody, there will be fighting but will only definitively end through diplomacy”.
“Discussions between Ukraine and Russia will decidedly take place. Under what format I don’t know,” he added.
But he promised that the result would be “fair” for Ukraine.
RUSSIA SAYS IT DESTROYED US WEAPONS AID
The Russian defence ministry claimed it had destroyed a large shipment of US and European weapons in a long-range missile strike on the Malin railway station west of Kyiv in the Zhytomyr region.
There was no Ukrainian or independent confirmation of the strike.
Russia meanwhile published a list of 963 Americans, including Mr Biden, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman, who are banned from entering the country.
That followed a similar list drawn up by Washington.
Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday also imposed travel bans on 26 Canadians “in response to the latest anti-Russian sanctions announced by Canadian authorities”.
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