Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday issued a dire appeal for help as Russia’s attacks across the country intensified. “The end of the world has arrived,” Zelensky said during a televised news conference in Kyiv.
He appealed to Western leaders who have resisted calls to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine. “If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes,” Zelensky said. The Ukrainian leader also called for direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Good Lord, what do you want? Leave our land. If you don’t want to leave now, sit down with me at the negotiating table. But not from 30 meters away, like with [French President Emmanuel] Macron and [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz,” Zelensky said, according to a translation from journalist Max Seddon, the Financial Times’ Moscow bureau chief. The “30 meters” line appears to be a reference to the lengthy table Putin uses for meetings with foreign leaders and his own advisers.
