Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's siege of the port city of Mariupol was 'a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come', while local authorities said thousands of residents there had been taken by force to Russia.
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Some 400,000 people have been trapped in Mariupol for more than two weeks, sheltering from heavy bombardment that has severed central supplies of electricity, heating and water, according to local authorities. In a late night broadcast, Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol would"go down in history of responsibility for war crimes".Still, he said, peace talks with Russia were needed although they were"not easy and pleasant".
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Command confirmed the attack, but said the Ukrainian side had no information on the type of missiles used.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow expected its operation in Ukraine to end with the signing of a comprehensive agreement on security issues, including Ukraine's neutral status, Interfax reported.
The Ukrainian president, who makes frequent impassioned appeals to foreign audiences for help, told an anti-war protest in Bern on Saturday that Swiss banks were where the"money of the people who unleashed this war" lay and their accounts should be frozen.
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