Ukrainian President Volodyဣmyr Zelenskyy accusꦚed the West of cowardice on Sunday while another top official said Russia was trying to split the nation in two, like North and South Korea.
Zelenskyy made an exasperated plea fo💞r fighter jets and tanks to sustain a defense as his country continues battling Russia's invading troops.
Russia now says its main focus is on taking control of the eastern Donbas region, an a🎐pparent pullback from its earlier, more expansive goals, but one which is raising fears of a divided Ukraine.
Speaking after US President Joe Biden said in a lacerating speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not stay in power — words the White House immediately sought to down꧋play — Zelenskyy lashed out at the West's “ping-pong about who and how should hand over jets” 𒈔and other weapons while Russian missile attacks kill and trap civilians.
“I've talked to the defenders of Mariupol today. I'm in ༺constant contact with them. Their determination, heroism and firmness are astonishing,” Zelenskyy said in a video address, referring to the besieged southern city that has suffered some of the war's greatest deprivations and horrors.
“If only those who have been thinking for 31 d🌼ays on how to hand over 🔥dozens of jets and tanks had 1 per cent of their courage.”
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has stalled in many areas. Its aim to quickly enci𝕴rcle the capital, Kyiv, and force its surren𝄹der has faltered against staunch Ukrainian resistance — bolstered by weapons from the US and other Western allies.
Zelenskyy signed a law on Sunday that bans reporting on troop and equipment movements that haven't been announced or approved by🌼 the military.
Journa🧜lists who violate the🌊 law could face three to eight years in prison. The law does not differentiate between Ukrainian and foreign reporters.
B✱ritain's Defense Ministry said Russia's troops are trying to encircle Ukrainian forces facing the two separatist-held areas in the country's east. That would cut the bulk of Ukraine's military off from the r🤪est of the country.
Moscow claims i🅷ts focus is on wresting the entire eastern Donbas region, which has been partially controlled by Russia-backed separatists since 2014. A high-ranking Russian military official said Friday that troops were being redirected to the east from other parts of the country.
Russia has supported the separatist r🍨ebels in Luhansk and neighbouring Donetsk since the insurgency erupted there shortly after Moscow a𝓰nnexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
In talks with Ukraine, Moscow has demanded Kyiv ac𓆉knowledge the i🐎ndependence of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, accused Russia of seeking to split Ukr🧜aine in two, making the comparison to North and South Korea.
“The occupiers will try to pull the occupied territories into a single quasi-state structure and pit itไ against independent Ukraine,” Budanov said in a statement released by the Defense Ministry. He predicted that guerrilla warfare by Ukrainians would 🦋derail such plans.
A Ukrainian delegate in talks with Russia on ending the war, Davyd Arakhamia, said in a Facebook post the countries woul🤪d meet in Turkey beginning Monday.
However, the Russians then announced the talks would start Tuesday. The sides have met previously with no deal reached🥃.
Zelenskyy, repeating statements he said earlier, told independent Russian journalists Sunday that his government would c🌺onsider♛ declaring neutrality and offering security guarantees to Russia.
Thℱat would include ▨keeping Ukraine nuclear-free, he said.
Ukraine says that to defeat Russia, the West must provide fighter jets and not just miss♛iles and other military equipment.
A proposal to transfer Polish planes to Ukraine via the United States was scrapped amid NATO concerns about being drawn into direct fight𒊎ing.
In his pointed remarks, Zelenskyy ac♈cused Western governments of being “afraid to prevent this tragedy. Afraid✨ to simply make a decision.”
H༒is plea was echoed ♏Sunday by a priest in the western city of Lviv, which was struck by rockets a day earlier.
The aerial assault illustrated that Mo𒀰scow, despite assertions that it intends to shift the war eastward, is willing to strike anywhere in Ukraine.
“When diplomacy doesn't work, we need military support,” said the Rev. Yuri Vaskiv, who said fearful parishioners🀅 were staying ಞaway from his Greek Catholic church.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov confirmed Russia used air-launched cruise missiles to hit a fuel depot and a defense plant in Lyiv, about 4🅺5 miles (75 kilometers) from the Polish border.
He said another strike with sea-launched missiles destroyed a depot in Plesetsꦏke just west of Kyiv, where Ukraine stored air🦩 defense missiles.
On Sunday🥂 night, a rocket attack hit an oil base in the far northwestern region of Volyn, whose capital, Lutsk, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of🤡 Lviv.
A chemical smell lingered in💫 Lyiv on Sunday as firefighters trained ho🌟ses on flames and black smoke poured from oil storage tanks hit in the attack.
Russia's back-to-back airstrikes shook the city that has become a haven for an estimated 200,000 people who have🌱 fled bombarded towns and cities.
Lviv, which has largely been spared bombardment, also has been a waystation fo♛r most of the 3.8 million refugees who have left 𝕴Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24.
In a dim, crowded bomb shelter under an apartment block nꦫear the first blast site, Olana Ukrainets, a 34-year-old information technology professional, said she couldn't believe she had to hide again after fleeing from the northeastern city of Kharkiv, one of the mo🍒st bombarded cities.
“We were on one sid🍸e of the street and ꦓsaw it on the other side,” she said. “We saw fire. I said to my friend, What's this?' Then we heard the sound of an explosion and glass breaking.”
In his video address, Zele♌nskyy angrily warned Moscow that it was sowing a deep hatred for Russia among Ukrainians.
“You are doing everything so that our pꦡeople themselves leave the Russian language, because the Russian language will n💞ow be associated only with you, with your explosions and murders, your crimes,” Zelenskyy said.
Alon𝓡g with the millions of people who have fled Ukraine, the invaဣsion has driven more than 10 million people from their homes, almost one-quarter of Ukraine's population.
Thousands ღof civilians are believed to have been killed.
While Russia's advance on Kyiv remains stalled, fighting has raged in the suburbs, and blasts from missiles fired into the city have rattled the St. Sophia 💞Cathedral, a 1,000-year-old UNESCO world heritage site that 𝔉is the heart of Ukrainian spiritual and national identity.
Vadim Kyrylenko, an engineer and conservator who is the most senior manager remaining at the church, said a strike nearby “would be a point of no return for our landmark because it is very fragile and v🍸ulnerable.”
Pointing at the cathedral's golden domes, Kyrylenko said the cross atop the central one toppled a month before the o🌟utbreak of World War II.
“The🧔 cross on the left fell a month before this war,” he said.(
