Zelenskyy Calls For Peace After Russian Airstrikes Kill 300, Says Won't Agree To Give Up Ukraine Territory

Zelenskyy's speech was in response to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said that the main aim of his military was to capture the region of Donbas. 

(File Photos/ Getty Images)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made an appeal to the Russians to negotiate and put an end to the ongoing conflict, but in the process, he did not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace, AP reported.

Zelenskyy made the appeal in his nightly video address to the nation on Friday. His speech was in response to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said that the main aim of his military was to capture the region of Donbas. 

The appeal comes a day after Ukraine claimed that Russian airstrikes at the Drama Theatre of Mariupol killed nearly 300 people. 

Russian-backed separatists have controlled the Donbas region in parts since 2014 and have been battling to seize more regions from Ukraine's other areas. 

Russia faced an unexpected offensive from Ukraine, thus stalling the Russian offensive. The Russian troops still haven't been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city, as they claimed to capture at the beginning of the offensive. 

Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi's statement is seen as a shift of agenda for the Russians. 

Meanwhile, the Russian attacks in Mariupol has devasted the city.  “Unfortunately, nothing remains of Mariupol,” said Evgeniy Sokyrko to AP, who was among those waiting for an evacuation train in an urban center to Mariupol.

“In the last week, there have been explosions like I've never heard before,” said Oksana Abramova.

“All the time I think about how they are, where they are. Are still hiding, are they alive? Or maybe they are no longer there," she said.