‘New stage of terror’ possible, Zelenskyy warns as Russia menaces Ukraine’s east and Putin vows to press on
KYIV, Ukraine — As Russian forces pressed ahead Tuesday in their drive to seize the strategic southern port of Mariupol and encircle Ukrainian defenders in the country’s east, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the nearly 7-week-old war could be entering a “new stage of terror” for his embattled country, and again accused Russia of war crimes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, said there was “no doubt” Moscow would achieve its aims in Ukraine, and defended as a “noble” cause an invasion denounced by much of the world as horrific. Blaming Ukraine, he said peace talks had reached a “dead end.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian negotiator and presidential adviser, conceded in a statement that negotiations were “extremely difficult.” “But they are ongoing,” he said.
