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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Western countries can help end the war by putting more pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and stopping the supply of arms to Kyiv.
Putin made the comments in his first phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron about a month ago.
According to the Russian presidential website, Putin said that the European Union member states ignore the “war crimes” believed to have been committed by the Ukrainian forces, accusing them of targeting residential neighborhoods in the Donbass region with artillery shelling.
But the Ukrainian forces deny this.
Macron asked Putin for a ceasefire and to allow more civilians to leave the Azovstal industrial complex in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The Russian forces intensified their bombing after the first group of civilians was evacuated from the area.
The United Nations said 101 people had been taken out of Azovstal, after spending weeks in shelters in harsh conditions.
Most of them were transferred to the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia, while the others remained in Mariupol.
The city’s mayor said 200 were still stranded in Azovstal. A Ukrainian military unit present there said that two civilian women were killed today in the Russian bombing.
The Russian Defense Ministry accused the Ukrainian forces of taking advantage of a temporary truce to take offensive positions.
Meanwhile, Slovak Defense Minister Jaru Nad said that a company, Konstorkta Defense, which specializes in weapons manufacturing, will help repair and develop Ukraine’s military equipment.
The minister indicated that the first shipment of these equipment included dozens of armored vehicles.
Slovakia has previously supplied the Ukrainian forces with its only S-300 air defense battery.
Analysts believe that helping neighboring countries to repair equipment is a great benefit to the Ukrainian forces, because their facilities are under constant bombardment by Russian missiles.