Ukrainian President Declines US Offer To Evacuate
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has turned down an offer by the United States to be evacuated from Kyiv despite Russian forces encircling the capital.
“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” he was quoted as saying by a senior American intelligence official with knowledge about the conversation.
A U.S. security source had told Worthy News earlier there are American special forces in Ukraine, though Washington officially denied there were combat troops in the country.
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.
Zelensky also tried to offer renewed assurances to Ukrainians that the country’s military would stand up to the Russian invasion.
In a video recorded on a downtown street, the president said over the weekend he had not left the city and that claims that the Ukrainian military would put down arms were false. “We aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country,” Zelensky stressed. “Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that.”
GOVERNMENT REPLACED?
Washington says, however, that Russia is determined the topple Zelensky’s democratically elected pro-Western government with a regime of its own.
Zelensky on Sunday rejected Moscow’s offer of ceasefire negotiations in Belarus, saying the neighboring country was not being neutral territory.
“If there had been no aggressive action from your territory, we could talk in Minsk … other cities can be used as the venue for talks,” Zelensky said.
“We want peace, we want to meet, we want an end to the war,” he stressed in a statement.
“Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku — we proposed all that to the Russian side. Any other city would work for us, too, in a country from whose territory rockets are not being fired.”
Kyiv and Moscow eventually agreed on talks Monday near the Belarusian border, Russian sources said, amid concerns that Western military aid will arrive too late to halt the Russian invasion.
Zelinsky told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the next 24 hours are a “crucial period” for Ukraine amid heavy fighting in several cities.
DIFFICULT TIME
Ukraine’s military acknowledges Sunday that it was a “difficult time” for its troops as Russian forces “continue shelling in almost all directions.”
Ukraine’s health ministry said 352 civilians, including 14 children, were killed since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. Kyiv also claimed 4,300 Russians had died in the whole operation, but this had not been verified.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense admitted casualties but didn’t give details.
As battles raged, Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert in a move condemned by the United States.
There were some, perhaps short-lived successes for the Ukrainian military. The governor of Kharkiv said Ukrainian troops have complete control of the country’s second-largest city after street fighting with Russian forces.
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