The Ukrainian President has told his people he is “not afraid of anyone” as he revealed his location in his latest video message.
Speaking from his office in central Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will continue to fight the Russian invasion for “as long as necessary”.
President Zelenskyy was previously reported to be in hiding in the Ukrainian capital – having refused to flee the invasion.
“I am staying here in Kyiv on Bankova Street,” he said. “I am not hiding and I am not afraid of anyone. I will stay here as long as it is necessary to win our patriotic war.”
Ukraine’s military has said Russian missile and air strikes are continuing – but Moscow’s advance has slowed considerably.
The Kremlin has again claimed it is opening humanitarian corridors out of several Ukrainian cities today to allow citizens to leave.
Ukraine has warned that previous corridors have led to Russia, Belarus or occupied parts of Ukraine – rather than the western border and the EU where most citizens fleeing the violence wish to go.
Kyiv has also accused the Kremlin of ordering attacks on people attempting to us the corridors.
Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations has insisted that people can go wherever they like after escaping the Ukrainian cities.
President Zelenskyy said Russian forces have “no humanitarian sense” – accusing them of destroying a bread factory near Kyiv and a church in Zhytomyr region yesterday.
He said the troops trained tanks, mines and grad missiles on the humanitarian corridors while people were attempting to flee.
“At the same time, they are opening a small corridor to the occupied territory,” he said. “For several dozen people.
“Not so much to Russia, as to propagandists. Directly to their TV cameras. Like, that's the one who saves. Just cynicism. Just propaganda. Nothing more.”
Russia has outlined another proposal for humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave five Ukrainian cities including Kyiv from 9am local time (7am Irish Time) today, according to Russian news agencies.
Again however, most of the routes would travel through Russia or Belarus, which President Zelenskyy previously rejected as "immoral".
The Ukrainian President said his country would continue to negotiate with Russia – noting that this was the “final” round of talks but that his team were “realists”.
The Kremlin yesterday said it would end the invasion “in a moment” if Ukraine agreed to a set of strict terms – including an agreement never to join the EU or NATO, agreeing to recognise Crimea as Russian territory and agreeing to recognise the separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent territories.
