Muristek
Kyiv, April 17
The continuing siege of the port city of Mariupol, which has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians, could scuttle attempts to negotiate an end to the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his country's journalists in an interview.
"The destruction of all our guys in Mariupol — what they are doing now — can put an end to any format of negotiations," he said on Saturday.
Later, in his nightly video address to the nation, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs more support from the West to have a chance at saving Mariupol.
"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."
Zelenskyy said the situation in Mariupol remains "inhuman" and Russia "is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there." Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukrainian forces had been driven out of most of the city and remained only in the huge Azovstal steel mill.
Earlier, he estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops had died in the war, and about 10,000 had been wounded. The office of Ukraine's prosecutor general said on Saturday that at least 200 children have been killed, and more than 360 wounded.
Meanwhile, Russian forces accelerated scattered attacks on Kyiv, western Ukraine and beyond in an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their Western supporters that the whole country remains under threat.
Stung by the loss of its Black Sea flagship and indignant over alleged Ukrainian aggression on Russian territory, Russia's military command had warned of renewed missile strikes on Ukraine's capital.
As Russia prepared for the anticipated offensive, a mother wept over her 15-year-old son's body after rockets hit a residential area of Kharkiv, a city in northeast Ukraine. An infant and at least eight other people died, officials said.
In the towns and villages just outside Kyiv, authorities have reported finding the bodies of more than 900 civilians, most shot dead, since Russian troops retreated two weeks ago. Mayor Vitali Klitschko advised residents who fled the city earlier in the war not to return.
In apparent preparations for its assault on the east, the Russian military has intensified shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, in recent days. Friday's attack killed civilians and wounded more than 50 people, the Ukrainian president's office reported.
Nate Mook, a member of the World Central Kitchen NGO run by celebrity chef Joseacute; Andreacute;s, said in a tweet that four workers in Kharkiv were wounded by a strike. Andreacute;s tweeted that staff members were unnerved but safe.
Russian forces also have taken captive some 700 Ukrainian troops and more than 1,000 civilians, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday. Ukraine holds about the same number of Russian troops as prisoners and intends to arrange a swap but is demanding the release of civilians "without any conditions," she said.