Kyiv, April 23 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Zelensky said Ukraine hopes to provide heavy weapons during talks with US and Secretary of State in Kyiv on Sunday, supplies he said are vital for Ukraine to meet. return eventually Russian-occupied territory.
The Ukrainian leader warned that Kyiv would abandon talks with Moscow if Russia destroyed “our people” surrounded by the war-torn city of Mariupol or organized referendums to create more breakaway republics on newly occupied Ukrainian land.
At one point in an emotional news conference, he said he believed Russia could use nuclear weapons, but did not want to believe that Moscow would.
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He said it was absolutely vital for Ukraine to get more weapons.
“As soon as we have (more weapons), as soon as there are enough, believe me, we will immediately get back this or that territory that is temporarily occupied,” he told reporters.
He used his press conference in the Kyiv subway to announce the upcoming arrival of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for talks on Sunday.
“Tomorrow we will discuss this exact list of weapons that are essential to us and the pace of supply,” he said. “We expect that. We would like to have … powerful heavy weapons.”
He fought back tears at one point, saying he shared the pain of every Ukrainian who lost children in Russia’s war, and that Saturday’s rocket attacks killed eight people in the city of Odessa, including a three-month-old child.
He said Saturday was one of the most difficult days so far for Ukrainian forces besieged in Mariupol, and that Kyiv had offered Moscow every possible kind of exchange deal to secure their release.
Ukrainian forces are hiding in the steel plant in the city of Mariupol.
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Report by Natalia Zinets and Alessandra Prentis; writing by Tom Balmfort; Edited by Raisa Kasolowski
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