Ukraine-Russia war: Ukraine President says Russia sending new troops after ‘biggest losses in decades’

NEW DELHI,MARCH 12: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday claimed that Russia was sending new troops after incurring the biggest losses that it had seen in decades. Addressing the nation, Zelenskyy asked Russia to uphold the ceasefire so that evacuations from Mariupol could successfully be carried out. Zelenskyy also said he urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron to pressure Russia into releasing Melitopol mayor, who was kidnapped on Friday by Russian troops.

In two separate incidents, Russian rocket attacks destroyed an airfield in Vasylkiv in Kyiv region and a mosque housing 80 civilians was shelled in Mariupol, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported Saturday. This comes as British intelligence agencies warned Ukraine of the intensifying Russian offensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war had reached a “strategic turning point” as air raid sirens blared across most Ukrainian cities on Saturday morning urging people to seek shelters.

As Russia called for a Security Council meeting on the issue of biological laboratories in Ukraine, India said any matters relating to obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention should be addressed through consultation and cooperation between the parties concerned.

-TIE