Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for comprehensive peace talks with Russia and is urging Switzerland to do more to crack down on the Russian oligarchs he says are helping wage war on his country with their funds.
What Happened: During a video address on Saturday, Zelensky urged the Kremlin to hold peace talks with his country.
"I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting, it is time to talk," he said. "The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover."
Zelensky added that peace talks are the “only chance for Russia to reduce the damage from its own mistakes.”
Also on Saturday, Zelensky gave an audio address to an anti-war protest in Bern, Switzerland. He said Swiss banks were holding the "money of the people who unleashed this war" and called for those accounts to be frozen.
Ukrainian cities "are being destroyed on the orders of people who live in European, in beautiful Swiss towns, who enjoy property in your cities. It would really be good to strip them of this privilege," he declared.
Fighting Intensifies: Western intelligence agencies have warned that due to heavy losses taken by the Russian military since the start of the Ukraine invasion on Feb. 24, President Vladimir Putin may pursue a strategy of attrition, prolonging the fighting and intensifying the humanitarian crisis.
Russian troops are pressing toward Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, using tanks, armored vehicles and artillery. Kyiv authorities said on Saturday that 228 people had been killed in the capital since the war began.
The Ukrainian military says it fought off 10 attacks on Saturday, destroying 28 tanks, armored personnel carriers and armored cars and killing more than 100 soldiers, according to a Reuters report. Although, the news agency was not able to verify the claim.
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