Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Saturday that
the "elimination"
of the last Ukrainian soldiers present in the port city of Mariupol besieged by Russian forces
"would put an end to any peace negotiations"
with Moscow.
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"The elimination of our soldiers, of our men (in Mariupol) will put an end to any negotiations"
for peace between Russia and Ukraine, declared Volodymyr Zelensky in remarks reproduced by the news website Ukraïnska Pravda, warning that the two parties would then find themselves in
"an impasse"
.
In terms of human toll,
"Mariupol, it can be ten times Borodianka"
, a small Ukrainian town near Kiev destroyed after being shelled and the scene of alleged abuses during its occupation by Russian soldiers, accused Volodymyr Zelensky.
“And the more Borodyanka there are, the more difficult it will be”
to negotiate, he stressed.
On April 11, the Ukrainian army announced that it was preparing for
"a final battle"
in Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, in the south-east.
"It will be death for some of us and captivity for others,"
the 36th Marine Brigade, part of Ukraine's armed forces, wrote on Facebook.
The next day, the Ukrainian authorities said that the fighting had killed between 20,000 and 22,000 people in Mariupol, a strategic city which in peacetime had 441,000 inhabitants.
Talks between the belligerents have been stalled for several days.
They are
“extremely difficult”
according to the remarks Tuesday of an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has meanwhile accused the Ukrainian negotiators of
"lack of consistency"
.