Vladimir Putin says Ukraine advance ‘going to plan’; France warns ‘worst is yet to come’

Ukraine says a second round of ceasefire talks with Russia has yielded agreement on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians

The US sanctions Russian oligarchs in the latest ratcheting up of pressure on the Kremlin to halt its invasion

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Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine’s Lugansk region on February 24. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:35am, 4 Mar 2022Updated: 12:52pm, 9 Mar 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s advance in Ukraine was “going to plan” and Kyiv appealed for Western military aid on Thursday, even as the warring sides met for ceasefire talks.

After the fall of a first major Ukrainian city to Russian forces, Putin appeared in no mood to heed a global clamour for hostilities to end as the war entered its second week.

Putin again said Russia was rooting out “neo-Nazis”, adding during the televised opening of a national security council meeting that he “will never give up on [his] conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people”.

He earlier told French President Emmanuel Macron that Moscow “intends to continue the uncompromising fight against militants of nationalist armed groups”, according to a Kremlin account of their call.

In Macron’s view, the worst is yet to come in Ukraine, the Elysee Palace said after the phone call, adding that it was now clear that Putin’s goal was the subjugation of the entire country.

A Ukrainian negotiator said on Thursday that a second round of ceasefire talks with Russia had not yielded the results Kyiv hoped for, but the sides had reached an understanding on creating humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.