Ukraine war: Zelensky warns Russia is eyeing other countries as hopes wane for Easter truce
- The war enters its third month on Sunday and as Russia threatens full control over southern Ukraine, Zelensky asks ‘who will come next?’
- Efforts to evacuate civilians in Mariupol continue despite resumed Russian attacks on the Azovstal steel plant where women and children are trapped
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia’s invasion of his country was just the beginning and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries, after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine.
“All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line. And who will come next?” Zelensky said.
Any hopes for a weekend truce in Ukraine to celebrate the Orthodox Easter faded when the talks between Moscow and Kyiv stalled.
The war enters its third month on Sunday but Major General Rustam Minnekaev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, warned “the second phase of the special operation” – as it terms its invasion of Ukraine – had just begun.
Minnekaev said their focus was now to “provide a land corridor to Crimea,” which Russia annexed in 2014, and towards a breakaway pro-Russian region of Moldova, Transnistria, where the general claimed Russian-speaking people were “being oppressed”.