Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky accused Russia of building a new “wall” in Europe “between freedom and slavery” after Russia accused Moscow on Thursday of bombing theaters where civilians were refugees and the word “children” that could be seen from the air was written.
In a video message broadcast in the House of Representatives of the Reichstag, the leader said that “it is not the Berlin Wall, it is a wall in Central Europe between freedom and slavery, and with every bomb the wall grows,” he dropped on Ukraine.
Zelenski addressed German lawmakers a day after speaking with the US Congress when he secured $1 billion in military aid from Washington, including Stinger surface-to-air missiles, such as missiles used in Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
“Dear Prime Minister (Olaf) Scholz, destroy that wall and give it the leading role that Germany deserves.” He told the head of the German government.
This Thursday, under the narrowing of the siege of Russian troops, Kiev came out of a 35-hour curfew.
This Thursday morning, following one of the latest attacks in Russia, AFP journalists saw a man hopelessly crouching next to a bloody body in front of an apartment block hit by a rocket.
- “Children” written on the roof -
In another video message released overnight, Zelenski called for a ceasefire on Russia three weeks after the start of the invasion, so that Western countries imposed harsh sanctions against Russia and the government led by Vladimir Putin.
“If the war, which is a war against the Ukrainian people, continues, the mothers of Russia will lose more children than the war in Afghanistan and Chechnya combined,” she said, referring to the lives of thousands of people who have suffered such conflicts.
On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense denied the attack on theaters in the port city of Mariupol (Mariupol) in southern Ukraine, and local officials say that there were “more than a thousand” refugees. According to the Renisee Human Lightwatch, there were at least 500.
According to Moscow, the building was blown up by militants of the far-right Ukrainian group Azov Battalion, which was rejected by Westerners, accusing Russia of generating false information.
“The number of deaths is still unknown,” Zelenski said, but the attack revealed that “Russia has become a terrorist country.”
According to the satellite image of the theater, taken by the private company Maxar on March 14, the word “child” was written in Russian on the front and back of the building, as well as on the ground.
The authorities posted a photo of the building, in which the central part was completely destroyed and white smoke appeared.
“The only word describing what happened today is' genocide ', which is the genocide of the people of our country and Ukraine,” said Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boyshenko.
According to Ukrainian sources, more than 1,200 people have died violently in Mariupol since the beginning of the war. Those who escaped the city described an important humanitarian situation and said they had to drink melted snow and set fire to cook scarce food.
“It got worse every day. There was no electricity, no water, no gas, no food. I couldn't buy anything anywhere.” A woman named Darya told AFP.
On Thursday, after this bombing, US President Joe Biden called Putin a “war criminal”, which caused great indignation in the Kremlin.
- “Purely economic?” -
On Thursday, Zelenski also blamed the Germans for years, resisting breaking economic ties with Russia, mainly in the energy sector.
“Dear German people, when we told you that Nord Stream 2 [the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, whose operation was finally stopped by the Berlin ndlr] was a way to prepare for war, we were told with the answer 'purely economic'”, he wondered.
The German Prime Minister applauded the “strong words” of the President of Ukraine, but did not respond directly to Zelenski's request. “We're looking at it. Russia continues every day with brutal wars and terrible losses,” he tweeted.
NATO rejected a request to participate directly in the conflict in Ukraine for fear of triggering a Third World War between two warlords with huge nuclear weapons.
At the moment, they have provided military aid, and Joe Biden announced that the United States will support Ukraine in acquiring a new air defense system.
Despite everything that Putin assured that the operation was being carried out “successfully” at a government meeting broadcast on Thursday.
The Russian leader was also convinced that after his country was excluded from most Western financial systems, he condemned and failed the sanctions imposed by Western countries.
On Thursday, the Kremlin rejected an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Supreme Court of the United Nations, to immediately stop the invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, the Ministry of Finance of Russia stated that it paid $11.7 million of interest on foreign debt and avoided default at the moment.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned that if the impact on energy and financial markets persists, wars worldwide could cause global growth for more than a year. According to the organization, Europe will be the region most affected by the economic impact of the offensive.
- “Ukrainian model” -
According to the UN, more than 3 million people have escaped the country, most of which are women and children.
Zelenski said 108 children were killed in the war on Thursday.
Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said that if Ukraine agrees to become a neutral country based on the Swedish or Austrian model, it is possible to reach a “compromise” to end the conflict.
However, the Ukrainian negotiator Mikhailo Podolyak pointed out that “the model is only Ukraine.”
The two sides negotiated through a video conference until Wednesday. Zelenski stressed that the priorities of the negotiations over the past few hours were “ending war, ensuring security, ensuring sovereignty, restoring territorial integrity, truly ensuring our country, and truly protecting our country.”
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