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"If they decide to flatten by bombing and just erase the history of this region and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kiev. If that is their goal, let them come, but they will have to make it on their own to live in this land," Zelensky said yesterday, Saturday.
The president, who has repeatedly appeared on social media from the capital, said some small towns were no longer suffering during the third week of Russian attacks, the largest invasion of a European country since World War II.
Russian bombing has trapped thousands of people in besieged towns, while 2.5 million Ukrainians have fled to neighbouring countries.
Ukraine accused Russian forces yesterday, Saturday, of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kiev. France said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not appear ready to make peace.
The Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including a child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that "the invaders forced those left in the convoy to turn back".
Reuters said it was not immediately able to verify the information and Russia did not immediately comment.
Moscow has denied targeting civilians since it invaded on February 24. It blames Ukraine for failed attempts to remove civilians from surrounded towns, a charge Ukraine and its Western allies flatly reject.
Zelensky said Moscow was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces knocked out 31 Russian battalions and called it the Russian army's biggest losses in decades. Reuters reported that it could not verify his statements.
"We still have to hold. We still have to fight," Zelensky said last night in a videotaped speech, his second of the day yesterday. Saying some 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, he called on the West to get more involved in peace negotiations.
The United States has announced it will rush additional small arms, as well as anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons worth up to $200 million, to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have called for more military aid.
Zelensky discussed the war with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, who called on Putin to order an immediate cease-fire.
A Kremlin statement on their 75-minute speech made no mention of a cease-fire. A French presidency official said: "We do not see any willingness on Putin's part to end the war."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the US of escalating tensions and said the situation was complicated by convoys carrying Western weapons into Ukraine, which Russian forces consider "legitimate targets".
In comments carried by TASS, Ryabkov did not make any specific threat. Any attack on such convoys before they reach Ukraine would create a risk of widening the war.
Talks between Moscow and Kiev are continuing by video conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agency RIA. He did not provide details, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said Kiev would not surrender or accept any ultimatums.
Source: APM
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