President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called for limiting external contacts for the Russian Federation as much as possible, including making all airports in the world inaccessible to it. He posted this appeal on his own Telegram channel on Tuesday, March 1.
“We need to consider the complete closure of the sky for Russian missiles, planes, helicopters … Such a country needs to close the entrance to all ports, canals, airports in the world. Such a country should not receive hundreds of billions for the export of energy resources,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelensky stressed that “the evil armed with rockets, bombs and artillery should be stopped” immediately and suggested using economic leverage for this.
Earlier in his speech, Zelensky said that there was no desired result after negotiations with the Russian Federation. According to him, when the delegation returns to Kyiv, the country’s authorities will analyze what they have heard and then decide how to proceed to the second round of negotiations.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine took place on February 28 in the Gomel region of Belarus. Later, Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, spoke about the demands of the Ukrainian side – Russian troops must leave Crimea and Donbass.
On the same day, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation, said that Moscow’s position had been formed.
At the first stage, it was not possible to achieve the desired results, but the parties expressed their readiness to continue the dialogue.
In addition, Zelensky, during a briefing on February 28, asked for the immediate accession of the state to the European Union.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of an operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. After that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of hitting the country’s military infrastructure and introduced martial law throughout Ukraine. He also said that Kyiv is breaking off diplomatic relations with Moscow and withdrawing its diplomats from the embassy.
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Vasily Nebenzya pointed out in turn that this cannot be called a war. He stated that the Russian authorities are still open for dialogue, but they do not intend to allow a new bloody massacre in the Donbass.
On February 21, Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR), as well as treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with the republics. The documents were ratified the next day.
The situation in Donbass escalated on February 17, 2022. The DPR and LPR reported heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces, including from heavy weapons. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia.
Since 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have been conducting an operation against the residents of Donbass, who refused to recognize the new government in Ukraine.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.