Zelenskyy Urges Global Protest Against Russia As Conflict Enters Second Month. Check Top Developments

Around 100,000 civilians remain trapped in the port city of Mariupol without heat, food or clean water as Russian bombardment from the sea and skies continues, said Zelenskyy

New Delhi: As the Russian aggression in Ukraine escalates to complete a month Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged citizens across the world to take to the streets to protest against Moscow.

Sharing a video message by Zelenskyy, Ukraine ministry of foreign affairs tweeted on Thursday, "The war of #Russia is not only the war against #Ukraine. started the war against freedom as it is. That's why I ask you to stand against the war! Starting from March 24 - exactly one month after the Russian invasion All as one together who want to stop the war!"

In his appeal for global protests, Zelenskyy said, "From this day and after that, show your standing. Come from your offices, your homes, your schools and universities. Come in the name of peace. Come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support life."  "Come to your schoolyards, your streets. Say that people matter, freedom matters, peace matters, Ukraine matters," he added.

Russia launched military operation against Ukraine with the aim of ‘demilitarisation and denazification’ on February 24, triggering the biggest war on a European state since World War II.

Latest developments in Russian-Ukraine Conflict

According to NATO estimate, 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion, where country’s defenders resisted the move of Moscow in a fierce battle denying victory it sought, according to AP report.

Around 100,000 civilians remain trapped in the port city of Mariupol without heat, food or clean water as Russian bombardment from the sea and skies continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as per Reuters.

Russian forces have bombed the ancient city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, destroying a bridge that had been critical for evacuations and aid deliveries, the governor said Wednesday.

After occupying the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian forces have taken one of the country’s most prominent theater directors Oleksandr Kniga to an unknown location, Ukraine’s Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said.  Kniga, 62, is considered one of the respected theater directors in Ukraine who founded the international theater festival Melpomene of Tavria.

With no signs of de-escalation, US President Joe Biden may roll out new sanctions against Russia in Brussels and coordinate more military assistance for Ukraine. Biden described the possibility that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine as a “real threat” and said it's an issue that world leaders will discuss at the NATO summit.

In support of Ukraine, NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg announced plans to double the alliance’s battlegroups on its eastern flank including Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

(With agency inputs)