Ukraine’s president says Russian army suffered 'unprecedented' losses

By Mustafa Deveci

KYIV, Ukraine (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend that the Russian army has suffered unprecedented losses in Ukraine and its biggest blow in decades.

Zelenskyy made the comments during a virtual press conference Saturday held at the presidential office in Kyiv while answering a question about talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Evaluating the possibility of the Russian army entering the capital, he said: “If they decide to carpet bomb (Kyiv) and simply erase the history of this region, the history of the Kyivan Rus, the history of Europe, and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv.”

The Kyivan Rus was a loose federation in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.

He pointed out that Russia would never find a "friend" in Ukraine in this situation.

"If that's the goal, let them come. But in this case, the enemy will have to live on this land on their own, without us. They will certainly not find friends among us,” he said.

Zelenskyy said that since the beginning of the war, 31 battalion tactical groups of the enemy had been neutralized.

Noting that the situation was very difficult all over Ukraine, he said small towns in some regions had been destroyed and that this was a tragedy.

He said 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers had lost their lives in the war so far and that nearly 500 Russian soldiers had been taken prisoner.

"Our diplomats are working and discussing some of the details of the agenda, the possible agenda between us and Russia, because I want the problem to be solved, the war to end, and the peace talks to be put into action, not (just) words," he said in reply to a question from Anadolu Agency.

He said the process should start with a cease-fire and noted that he welcomed Russia's messages.

"At first, there were some ultimatums by Russia, as you know. We didn’t accept any of these ultimatums and the war was deepening. Now, we see there’s been no operation for three or four days on the occupation of our state, the change of power, and the change of the flag," he said.

Zelenskyy also emphasized that instead of ultimatums, officials from Kyiv and Moscow were discussing the various issues.

"If we’re talking about security guarantees for the security of our state, Ukraine can’t just trust Russia after such a bloody war. That’s why other leaders should offer these security guarantees outside of Russia," he added.