The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, made this Friday a call to the families of Russian soldiers to prevent their children from being sent to the war that is being waged in their country.
“I want to say once again to Russian mothers, particularly mothers of conscripts, do not send your children to war in a foreign country,” Zelensky said in a new video posted on Telegram, the AFP news agency reported.
“Check where your son is,” he continued, “and if you have the slightest suspicion that your son may have been sent to war against Ukraine, act immediately,” he added.
Zelensky added that “Ukraine has never wanted this terrible war and does not want it. But it will defend itself as much as it takes,” he added.
Russia extends its offensive in western and central Ukraine and tightened its grip on Kiev, on the sixteenth day of the invasion that led to more than 2.5 million people fleeing the country and Western powers to redouble pressure with new sanctions against Moscow.
The situation is particularly critical in the southern port city of Mariupol, where local authorities say 1,500 people have died since Russia virtually cut it off from the world twelve days ago.
