Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned he will not give up any territory in eastern Ukraine as he accused Putin’s forces of stealing civilians’ pension money.
In a nine-minute video address shared on Facebook tonight, Zelensky also said he is in ‘constant contact’ with Western allies to reinforce Ukraine’s defences.
Zelensky explained: ‘The democratic world must also react to what the occupiers are doing in the south of Ukraine – in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Earlier on Sunday he had called for US President Joe Biden to visit his country and said he believes the commander-in-chief will make the trip.
The wartime leader also said his government had ‘substantial evidence’ that Russia’s troops are committing genocide in Ukraine, as more and more western leaders accuse autocrat leader Putin of war crimes.
Zelensky was asked by CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper whether there are ‘any plans’ for Biden to come see the situation for himself.
‘I think he will,’ the Ukrainian president answered.
Earlier on Sunday Zelensky told CNN he hopes Biden will visit Kyiv to see the war for himself
‘Torture chambers are built there. They abduct representatives of local authorities and anyone deemed visible to local communities. They blackmail teachers.
‘They steal money provided for paying pensions. Humanitarian aid is blocked and stolen. They create starvation.’
Kyiv’s brave leader also called on Western allies to resupply his underdog forces.
Zelensky added: ‘Those who have the weapons and ammunition we need and delay their provision must know that the fate of this battle also depends on them.’
Zelensky said: ‘Those who have weapons we need and delay must know fate depends on them’
Autocrat Russian leader Putin is reeling from a series of humiliating losses in Ukraine
He added on CNN of Biden’s potential visit: ‘It’s his decision of course, and about the safety situation.’
‘But I think he’s the leader of the United States, and that’s why he should come here to see.’
Late last week Biden confirmed that his administration was discussing a possible Kyiv trip by a senior official and was ‘making that decision now.’
He told reporters that he wanted to go himself.
Russia warned of ‘unpredictable consequences’ after the U.S. announced the latest in a series of aid packages for Ukraine – this time including helicopters, 155 mm howitzer long-range artillery, and Switchblade drones as part of the $800 million effort.
The Russian embassy in Washington fired off a two-page diplomatic note or démarche, dated Tuesday, to the State Department in protest.
It was titled, ‘On Russia’s concerns in the context of massive supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kyiv regime.’
Meanwhile the situation in war-torn Mariupol became ever bleaker over the weekend as local forces ignored Russia’s chilling ‘surrender or die’ ultimatum.
Kremlin forces told Kyiv fighters to lay down their arms by 6:00 am Moscow time (0300 GMT) and evacuate before 1:00pm, on Sunday.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed their troops had cleared the urban area of the city – with only a small unit of Ukrainian fighters remaining in the giant Azovstal steelworks in the south-eastern port.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Kremlin ‘is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there’ and asked the West for more heavy weapons immediately to have any chance of saving the port city on the Sea of Azov as Russian air strikes continue.
‘Either our partners give Ukraine all of the necessary heavy weapons, the planes, and without exaggeration immediately, so we can reduce the pressure of the occupiers on Mariupol and break the blockade,’ he said, ‘or we do so through negotiations, in which the role of our partners should be decisive.’
Were it to fall, it would be the the first major city to be taken by Russian forces since the invasion began on February 24.
A Russian Defence Ministry spokesman said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had been driven out of most of the city and remained only in the Azovstal steel mill, where tunnels allow the defenders to hide and resist until they run out of ammunition.
The Russians already control what is left of the city after weeks of bombardment. Striking the steel plant to take the rest is part of Russia’s preparations for the anticipated assault in eastern Ukraine.
An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andriushchenko, said on Telegram that despite Russia’s ‘”surrender corridor” for the remaining troops’ in the city, ‘our defenders continue to hold the defence’.
Andriushchenko added: ‘During the fighting, the occupiers shelled private residential houses with heavy artillery again.’
Experts say the fall of Mariupol, seen as strategically vital for Russian plans to attack eastern Ukraine, is inevitable. But holdouts in their underground bases hope to make conquering the Sea of Azov port as hard as possible for the attackers.
The urban landscape of the Azovstal steelworks where Ukrainian forces, who took refuge at the site following reports Russia had used chemical weapons, plan to take on the invaders seems almost tailor-made for guerrilla warfare, with sprawling rail lines, warehouses, coal furnaces, factories, chimneys and tunnels.
The maze-like area is a metal works complex, Azovstal, owned by Metinvest, which has been the focus of urban fighting in Mariupol, just like the nearby Azovmash factory which makes rail components, cranes and other large metal structures.
Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov in southeastern Ukraine, has seen the worst fighting of the seven-week-long war. Home to 400,000 people before Russia’s invasion, the city has been reduced to rubble by Russian shelling.