In a video address last night, Zelensky said Russia is “putting itself outside the negotiating table.” “There will be no more talks. Our country has said everything it wanted,” it sounded.
Zelensky thinks the trial will take place on Wednesday. It would then coincide with Ukrainian Independence Day. On August 24, it will also be exactly six months since Russia entered Ukraine.
Russia is holding thousands of Ukrainians in camps run by pro-Russian separatists. Earlier this month, Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-declared pro-Russian People’s Republic of Donetsk (DPR), told Russian media that Ukrainian soldiers will be brought to justice “before the end of the summer”. According to President Zelensky, 2,500 of them are soldiers captured at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
The Ukrainian president also called for vigilance last weekend. He said Moscow could try “something particularly violent”.
Russia: ‘All fighters in besieged steel factory have surrendered’
Fire at ammunition depot in Russia near Ukraine border