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Vladimir Putin brands Ukrainians ‘extreme gangsters & brainwashed’, as Zelenskyy tells despot ‘let’s talk I don’t bite’
EMBATTLED Vladimir Putin issued a ferocious defence of his invasion of Ukraine tonight, bizarrely claiming the war has been a "success", despite the Russian army suffering heavy losses.
Addressing his people on the eighth day of the conflict, Russia's president said the Ukrainians have been "brainwashed" and insisted his soldiers are the "real heroes".
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Russia has now admitted for the first time it had suffered casualties during its invasion - saying 500 soldiers have been killed and around 1,600 have been wounded.
Ukraine puts the figures much higher at over 9,000 - and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed Putin will pay the price for every one of his dead countrymen.
Hopes of a quick victory have evaporated as harrowing images have emerged of burnt out Russian vehicles and sobbing soldiers after they surrendered.
In a fiery televised meeting with his security council, President Putin branded the Ukrainians "extreme gangsters", and accused the military of using civilians as "human shields" - despite there being no evidence this is true.
In response Zelenskyy offerered to meet Putin and told the Russian tyrant: "I don't bite."
Playing down the scale of the invasion as a "special operation" designed to protect the eastern Donbas region, he insisted his plans were on time and on schedule, despite Russian losses.
Denying Ukrainian claims Russian forces are deliberately targeting civilians, Putin instead blamed the 2,000 civilian casualties so far on "neo-Nazis" holding the people of Ukraine hostage.
In his first address since the start of the conflict eight days ago, Putin admitted his forces had lost "some small towns", and acknowledged that some Russian forces, including a senior commander, had died in the fight.
But he claimed the officer had blown himself up in a heroic act of sacrifice, taking out several Ukrainian troops.
He gave no indication of when the war might end.
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In an appeal to his Russian counterpart, Zelensky said: "Get off our land. You don't want to leave now?
"Then sit down with me at the negotiation table. I'm available. Sit. Just not 30 metres away like with Macron or Scholz etc. I am your neighbour. You don't need to keep me 30 metres away.
"I don't bite. I'm a normal bloke. Sit down with me and talk. What are you afraid of? We aren't threatening anyone, we're not terrorists, we aren't seizing banks and seizing foreign land."
It comes just hours after Putin rang French President Emmanuel Macron, defiantly telling him he has no intention of pulling out of Ukraine.
He also told his French counterpart he would hold firm on his demands for Ukraine to be demilitarised, and insisted he would achieve his military aims "whatever happens" and will continue fighting until "the end".
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Putin reportedly said to Macron he wants to "seize the whole of Ukraine," during the confrontational call.
"The expectation of the president is that the worst is to come, given what President Putin told him,"; a senior aide to Macron said.
For his part, Macron warned Putin his invasion was a "major mistake" and accused the Russian leader of "lying" to himself.
It comes as:
- Ukrainian forces are battling to keep control of Europe's biggest power plant
- Kyiv remains under siege as Russia continues to advance across the whole of Ukraine
- Kherson became the first city to be captured by Vladimir Putin's forces amid major bloodshed in Kharkiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv
- Hundreds of hero Ukrainians blocked Putin's troops as they advanced towards Europe's biggest power plant
- Russian soldiers were pictured crying and begging to return home after being captured
- Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov - who bankrolled Everton - had his £600million superyacht seized in Germany
- Russian tycoon Mikhail Watford was found hanged in the garage of his home in the UK
He was quoted by a French official as telling Putin: "'It will cost your country dearly, your country will end up isolated, weakened, and under sanctions for a very long time'."
Putin's comments appear to be in response to statements from Western governments and intelligence agencies that the Russian war effort has stalled.
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"I want to say that the special military operation is proceeding strictly in line with the timetable," Putin said.
"According to plan. All the tasks that have been set are being successfully resolved."
Putin also repeated two of his major justifications for the invasion - that Ukrainians are Russians, and the "denazification" of Ukraine.
"I will never abandon my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people," he said.
"But the way the battle is going shows we are fighting neo-Nazis."
He also praised the efforts of Russian soldiers' "heroic" actions, and said the families of all Russian soldiers killed in the fighting would be compensated.
"Now on Ukrainian territory, our soldiers and officers are fighting for Russia, for a peaceful life for the citizens of Donbas, for the denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine, so that we can't be threatened by an anti-Russia right on our borders that the west has been creating for years," he said.
Russian troops are escalating their efforts to conquer Ukraine, with Putin's army claiming their first major city of the conflict so far.
Horror pictures from around the capital Kyiv revealed the devastation caused by another night of airstrikes and shelling by the Russians.
All you need to know about Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Everything you need to know about Russia's invasion of Ukraine...
- Why is Russia invading Ukraine?
- Will the UK go to war?
- How can I join the Ukraine foreign legion?
- What can I do to help Ukraine?
- Who is Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
- How much gas does the UK get from Russia?
- Is Russia a part of Nato?
- Does ?
- Why is Ukraine not in Nato?
- How big is the Russian army?
- What is of the Nato treaty?
- What is the Minsk agreement?
- Which countries were in the Soviet Union?
But the war has come at a tremendous cost to Russia so far, both in terms of soldiers lost, and economic.
Russia is becoming increasingly isolated as it feels the crushing weight of Western sanctions.
On Thursday, video showed Russians panic-buying at the Moscow branch of Ikea after the Swedish giant announced it was ceasing operations in the country in response to the war.
Russian and Ukrainian officials sat down for a second round of negotiations on Thursday, where they agreed to establish a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians.
But the bombardment of civilian areas by Putin's forces has continued throughout the day, with an airstrike on an apartment block killing 22 civilians earlier on Thursday.
So far, more than 2,000 civilians have been killed in the first eight days of the conflict.
The special military operation is proceeding strictly in line with the timetable
Vladimir Putin
In the southern city of Mariupol, a distraught dad was pictured weeping over his teenage son's dead body after he was killed in a Russian airstrike.
On Wednesday, Mariupol's mayor accused Russia of carrying out "genocide" on Ukrainians in the city, after more than half a day of continuous reported shelling.
President Zelenskyy's top aide has warned Putin will "go for blood beyond Ukraine" if he isn't stopped.
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"This war could be a prologue to a greater European or even global massacre," wrote Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, for in the New York Times.
"Not since the end of World War 2 has Europe seen violence and naked territorial ambition at such a scale."
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