Zelenskiy signals readiness for new talks if Mariupol troops are not harmed

Volodymyr Zelenskiy: ‘The war will be bloody, there will be fighting and [it] will only definitively end through diplomacy.’ Photograph: Presidential Press Service Handout/EPA

Ukraine has suggested that it is willing to resume talks with Russia as Moscow claimed to have taken full control of the besieged city of Mariupol – its biggest prize since it invaded Ukraine in February.

Speaking to a television channel on Saturday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that “discussions between Ukraine and Russia will undoubtedly take place”.