“We are not attacking Russia and we do not plan to attack it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Kyiv:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called on the West to increase military aid to Ukraine, saying Russia would advance to the rest of Europe.
“If you don’t have the power to close the sky, give me the plane!” Zelensky said at a news conference. “If we are no more, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next,” he said, “trust me.”
He called for direct talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying it was “the only way to stop this war.”
“We are not attacking Russia and we are not planning to attack it. What do you want from us? Give up our land,” he said addressing Putin.
“Sit with me. Not just 30 meters away like (French President Emmanuel Macron),” the Ukrainian leader said, adding that Putin has to get the world’s leaders at a now famous very long table.
Zelensky – who a few weeks ago sought to calm the people of Ukraine over US allegations that Russia was planning to invade their country – said: “No one thought that in the modern world a man was an animal. can behave like that.”
Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine last week.
Russia says it is not targeting civilian areas, despite extensive evidence.
Ukraine said Wednesday that Russian planes hit a school in the northern city of Chernihiv, killing nine people.
Kyiv says more than 350 civilians have been killed since Putin launched the invasion.
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