Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the Russian military’s operation in Ukraine a “terrorist” act. He also said that the tactics they were pursuing were similar to those of the international militant group IS.
In a Facebook post after midnight on Friday, Zelensky said, “What the Russian invaders are doing in Ukraine can only be compared to Islamic State terrorists.”
“The mayor of the Ukrainian coastal city of Mariupol has been taken hostage by Russian troops,” the statement said. Russian troops have also been accused of failing to comply with a ceasefire announced in the city on Friday.
“We were able to rescue 7,144 people on Friday,” Zelensky said, adding that more than 6,000 civilians had been rescued from Mariupol.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine began around the Western military alliance, NATO. Relations between the two countries have been strained since Kiev filed the petition in 2008.
Although NATO did not grant full membership to Ukraine, the conflict escalated after it was nominated as an “ally”. In the past two months, Moscow has deployed about 200,000 troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border to put pressure on Ukraine to withdraw its application for NATO membership.
But this strategy did not work. In addition, almost every day for the past two months, the United States and its allies have complained that Russian forces could invade Ukraine at any time.
Russia finally recognized the two eastern territories of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, as independent states on February 22; And two days later, on the 24th, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military operation in Ukraine.
The expedition reached its 18th day on Saturday. About 2 million Ukrainians have already fled Ukraine and taken refuge in neighboring Poland and Romania. According to the United Nations, more than 450 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the military operation. There are also a significant number of children among them.
In a Facebook post on Friday, the Ukrainian president also appealed to Russian mothers. “Don’t send your child to fight abroad,” he said in the post. Be sure, where is your child. If you have the slightest suspicion that he has been sent to war against Ukraine, act immediately. “
