Ukrainian leader urges against neutrality amid war with Russia

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Ukraine's president on Wednesday called on the international community not to remain "neutral" and accused Russia of aiming to erase his country's history.

In a video message on the seventh day of the war, Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Ukrainian forces had killed "almost 6,000 Russians," underlining that Moscow could not win with bombs and rockets.

Pointing to Tuesday's attack on a television tower near the Holocaust memorial site of Babyn Yar in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy urged Jewish people around the world not to remain silent.

He also called for support to Ukraine's EU membership bid.

Shortly after Zelenskyy's remarks, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported the killing of at least 5,840 Russian soldiers since the beginning of the attacks last Thursday.

The ministry said that 30 planes, 31 helicopters, 211 tanks, 862 armored vehicles belonging to Russia had been destroyed.

It added that 40 rocket launchers of the Russian military, as well as 355 vehicles, 60 fuel vehicles, nine air defense systems, and three UAVs were also destroyed.

Since Russia began its war on Ukraine, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, Canada, Japan, and the US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Moscow.

At least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed and 400 others, including 26 children, injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.

Around 680,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the international body said on Tuesday.