Ukrainian president adds that US Secretary of Defense Austin will also join visit; repeats call for meeting with Putin in an effort to ‘put an end to the war’
By AGENCIES
23 Apr 2022, 10:50 pm
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during his meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2022. (Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv Sunday, the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Tomorrow, the American officials are coming to visit us; I will meet the Defense Secretary [Lloyd Austin] and Antony Blinken,” he told reporters Saturday.
He did not immediately share more detail about the visit from Blinken and Austin.
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It will be the first official visit by US government officials since the February 24 invasion.
The White House declined to comment on Saturday.
Zelensky has for weeks urged Western allies to send Ukraine more weapons to counter the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainian leader on Saturday also called again for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an effort to “put an end to the war.”
“I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it,” he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, adding that he was “not afraid to meet” Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
He was ready to exchange Ukraine’s soldiers defending the city “in whatever format” to save “these people who find themselves in a horrible situation, surrounded.”
Zelensky said the “last contact” with the Mariupol soldiers had been an hour ago, he said, adding “today is one of the hardest days” since the start of the Russian siege of the city at the beginning of March.
He also said eight people had been killed and 18 wounded in Russian strikes on the Black Sea port of Odesa, updating an earlier toll given by local officials.
The Odesa and Mariupol deaths all but buried hopes of a truce for Orthodox Easter.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during his meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2022. (Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv Sunday, the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Tomorrow, the American officials are coming to visit us; I will meet the Defense Secretary [Lloyd Austin] and Antony Blinken,” he told reporters Saturday.
He did not immediately share more detail about the visit from Blinken and Austin.
State of Jerusalem: The 'Secular' Struggle
It will be the first official visit by US government officials since the February 24 invasion.
The White House declined to comment on Saturday.
Zelensky has for weeks urged Western allies to send Ukraine more weapons to counter the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainian leader on Saturday also called again for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an effort to “put an end to the war.”
“I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it,” he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, adding that he was “not afraid to meet” Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 16, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
“From the beginning, I have insisted on talks with the Russian president,” he said. “It’s not that I want [to meet him], it’s that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means.”
“We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia,” he added.
Zelensky denounced plans by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before Kyiv.
“It is simply wrong to go first to Russia and then to Ukraine,” he said. “There is no justice and no logic in this order.”
Zelensky also repeated his warning that they would break off talks if Russia killed the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol.
“If our men are killed in Mariupol and if these pseudo-referendums are organized in the [southern] region of Kherson, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” he said.
“From the beginning, I have insisted on talks with the Russian president,” he said. “It’s not that I want [to meet him], it’s that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means.”
“We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia,” he added.
Zelensky denounced plans by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before Kyiv.
“It is simply wrong to go first to Russia and then to Ukraine,” he said. “There is no justice and no logic in this order.”
Zelensky also repeated his warning that they would break off talks if Russia killed the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol.
“If our men are killed in Mariupol and if these pseudo-referendums are organized in the [southern] region of Kherson, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” he said.
A Ukrainian national flag, military helmet and medical documents are seen on a table at a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
He was ready to exchange Ukraine’s soldiers defending the city “in whatever format” to save “these people who find themselves in a horrible situation, surrounded.”
Zelensky said the “last contact” with the Mariupol soldiers had been an hour ago, he said, adding “today is one of the hardest days” since the start of the Russian siege of the city at the beginning of March.
He also said eight people had been killed and 18 wounded in Russian strikes on the Black Sea port of Odesa, updating an earlier toll given by local officials.
The Odesa and Mariupol deaths all but buried hopes of a truce for Orthodox Easter.
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