Zelensky’s Big Statement on Russia-Ukraine Conflict: ‘Ready For Negotiations With Putin, But if Talks Fail Then…’

"I'm ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war," The Kyiv Independent reported quoting Zelensky.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said that he is  “ready for negotiations” with Russian President Vladimir Putin but warned that if they fail “that would mean that this is a third World War.” “I’m ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war,” The Kyiv Independent reported quoting Zelensky.

“I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, the possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third World War,” he added, according to the reports. In the recent day, Zelensky had urged more negotiations as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears a month. In a video message posted Saturday, he called for talks “without delay,” warning that otherwise Russia’s losses would be “huge.”

This proved that @ZelenskyyUa is truly a comedian. He played with lives of his countrymen for last 20 days just to issue this statement now.
Major cause for this entire fiasco was #Ukraine joining NATO. Had he said this earlier, could have saved his country from such devastation. https://t.co/3ghoEkmBDQ

— Major Amit Bansal (Retd) (@majoramitbansal) March 15, 2022

Russian troops stepped up their bombardment of the besieged port city of Mariupol on Sunday, with Ukrainian officials saying a strike flattened an art school used as a shelter by hundreds of civilians.

Mariupol continues to bear some of the war’s greatest suffering. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy early Sunday accused Russia of war crimes over its siege, describing the attack on the city as “a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.” In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is interested in peace, and that ongoing talks with Russia are “necessary.”

Pope Francis on Sunday denounced Russia’s “repugnant war” against Ukraine as “cruel and sacrilegious inhumanity.”

HOW MANY CIVILIANS HAVE DIED IN UKRAINE?

That’s hard to say, with full casualty figures difficult to confirm during wartime. From the start of the war through Friday, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 2,246 civilian casualties in the country, including 847 killed and 1,399 injured.

Ukrainian officials say thousands of civilians have been killed.

The office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General reported Saturday that 112 children have been killed since the fighting started. More than 140 children have been wounded.