Zelenskyy urges Russian soldiers in Ukraine to flee for their lives

By Merve Berker

ANKARA (AA) – The Ukrainian president has urged Russian soldiers to flee from Ukraine for the sake of their own lives as their only two options are either to flee or surrender.

Following a long period of aerial raids, Ukraine on Monday said its ground forces launched an offensive to retake the southern part of the country.

Russia, which launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24, however, said it repulsed the attack and inflicted heavy losses on the Ukrainian side.

Volodomyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Tuesday that the Ukrainian forces are doing everything for Russian forces to "feel the Ukrainian response" to their "horrible terror."

“Throughout the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, from Crimea to the Kharkiv region, the Russian army does not have and will not have a single safe base, a single quiet place,” he added.

The president warned: “Our defenders will destroy all warehouses, headquarters of the occupiers, their equipment, wherever they are located ... This is Ukrainian land, and the occupiers can do only two things - flee or surrender. We leave them no other options,”

He urged people in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, to "stay away from Russian military facilities, do not stay near Russian bases and military airfields, inform the special services of Ukraine of all the information you know about the occupiers, so that the liberation of Crimea can happen faster."