Russia sending new troops after heavy losses, says Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky
Zelensky also said he had spoken to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron about pressuring Russia to release the mayor of the city of Melitopol, who Ukraine says was kidnapped on Friday by Russian forces.
FollowUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said that Russia was sending new forces to Ukraine after suffering what he said were its biggest losses in decades, news agency Reuters reported.
Zelensky also said he had spoken to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron about pressuring Russia to release the mayor of the city of Melitopol, who Ukraine says was kidnapped on Friday by Russian forces.
Zelensky in a televised address urged Russia to uphold an agreed ceasefire to allow evacuations to proceed from the besieged port city of Mariupol, after blaming Moscow for the failure of previous attempts.
Meanwhile, in two separate incidents, Russian rocket attacks destroyed an airfield in Vasylkiv in Kyiv region and a mosque housing 80 civilians was shelled in Mariupol, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported Saturday. This comes as British intelligence agencies warned Ukraine of the intensifying Russian offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war had reached a “strategic turning point” as air raid sirens blared across most Ukrainian cities on Saturday morning urging people to seek shelters.
As Russia called for a Security Council meeting on the issue of biological laboratories in Ukraine, India said any matters relating to obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention should be addressed through consultation and cooperation between the parties concerned.
Meanwhile, three flights carrying 674 people, mostly students, evacuated from the conflict-ridden city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine landed in New Delhi on Friday. Although there was no official word from the government about the completion of the evacuation process from Ukraine, these three flights from Poland’s Rzeszow were considered among the last ones.
