Day 60 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Zelensky will Suspend Peace Talks if Defenders of Mariupol are Killed

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that he will suspend peace talks with Russia if the last defenders of Mariupol are killed. The strategically important city has been under siege by Russian forces for weeks, and planned evacuations have been canceled due to heavy shelling.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has once again called on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to personally negotiate an end to the war. He said he was ready for any exchange with Russia, just to keep the Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol and the civilians besieged alive. According to him, yesterday they experienced one of the most difficult days of the Russian occupation:

"If our people in Mariupol are destroyed and if a referendum is called ... a pseudo-referendum on new pseudo-republics, Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiations."

The potential pseudo-republics that Zelensky has in mind are the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said it had destroyed a Russian command post in Kherson yesterday. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said in an online interview that 50 senior Russian officers were at the command center when it was attacked. He said their fate was unknown. The Russian military has not yet commented on the allegation, which cannot be independently confirmed.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, yesterday the Russian forces continued with the shelling of the Mariupol metallurgical plant "Azovstal". Fierce fighting is reported in and around Donbas. There was also rocket fire against Odessa. A 15-story residential building was also damaged in the Black Sea town, killing at least eight people, including a 3-month-old baby. Russia's Defense...