Zhelensky says he is not afraid of Putin and calls on the Russian leader to ‘end the war’ Ukraine and Russia

“I hope that whoever started the war can bring it to an end,” Zhelensky told a news conference at a metro station in central Kiev. The Ukrainian leader reiterated that he was “not afraid” to meet with Putin if he would allow a peace agreement to be reached between the two countries.

“I insisted from the beginning [a importância de] Talks with Russian President, ”said the Ukrainian leader. “It simply came to our notice then [encontrá-lo]But I have to meet him to resolve this conflict through diplomatic channels, ”he added.

However he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Putin’s government Russia All peace talks will end if Ukrainian soldiers are killed in Mariupol in the southeast of the country.

“If our men were killed in Mariupol and a referendum was held in the Kerson region (south),” Ukraine The whole negotiation process will go away, “said Zhelensky.

Earlier, an attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol was “halted” by Russian troops controlling much of the southeastern city. Ukraine. According to local councilor Petro Andryushchenko, reporting on the operation, about 200 city residents went to the designated boarding point, but the Russian army “disintegrated”.

Some of them were forced to board buses bound for the Russian-occupied city of Tokuchevs, 80 kilometers north of Mariupol. “People have no right to get off the buses,” he said. According to him, the Russians blame the change of course on the “firing of (Ukrainian) nationalists”. “Again, the Russians prevented the retreat,” Andryushchenko criticized.

After nearly two months of siege and bombing, much of Mariupol, a strategic industrial port in the Sea of ​​Azov, was occupied by Russian troops, but Ukrainian soldiers are still rooted in the kilometer-long mines of the Azov Steelworks.