The Ukrainian government will withdraw from negotiations with Moscow if the Russian army kills Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this on Saturday at a press conference from a metro station in Kiev, AFP news agency reported. He does say he is willing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for direct consultations.
The Russian armed forces have taken Mariupol, but there are still about two thousand soldiers and a thousand civilians entrenched in the factory. Zelensky called on Putin to “end the war”. He also condemned the “illogical” decision by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to visit Moscow before arriving in Kiev.
US ministers to Kiev
The Ukrainian president also said at the press conference that he will meet in Kiev on Sunday with two American dignitaries: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. He said that arms supplies would be discussed, among other things, and hoped that President Joe Biden could also visit Kiev in the future, if the security situation improved. The White House has not yet commented on the statements. It would be the first visit by US officials to the Ukrainian capital since the Russian invasion of February 24.
Zelensky also warned again against Russian attempts to organize ‘referenda’, in which it would appear that Ukrainian cities and regions want to join Russia or the Moscow-backed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Such a referendum was organized in 2014 to legitimize the annexation of Crimea. „If our men are killed in Mariupol and organized as pseudo-referenda in the [zuidelijke] Kherson region, Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” Zelensky said.
DefenseU Defense of Ukraine †@ZelenskyyUa: If russia further destroys our people in #mariupolif a pseudo-referendum is announced as part of the creation of new pseudo-republics, Ukraine will withdraw from the process of negotiations.
This article is also part of our live blog: Zelensky threatens to end negotiations with Moscow