Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Zelensky: Ukraine will pull out of peace talks if Russia kills Mariupol defenders

President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an unusual press conference for Ukrainian and foreign journalists on the platform of the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) metro station in Kyiv yesterday.
Photo: EPA/BGNES

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns he'll call off peace talks with Russia if Mariupol's defenders are killed and "if a pseudo-referendum to create new pseudo-republics" in the occupied territories is announced, Reuters reported.  

At a press conference in Kyiv subway yesterday, Zelensky again called for face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war..

Russian forces in Ukraine tried to storm the Azovstal steel plant housing soldiers and civilians in Mariupol on Saturday while attempting to crush the last corner of resistance, the Associated Press reported. The assault on the eve of Orthodox Easter came after the Kremlin claimed its military had seized all of Mariupol except for the Azovstal plant.

The fate of the Ukrainians holed up in the steel mill wasn't immediately clear; earlier Saturday, a Ukrainian volunteer military unit “Azov” released a video in which women and children are shown holed up underground.

In the meanwhile Russia's military pounded other cities and towns in southern and eastern Ukraine. A three-month-old baby was among at least eight people killed after Russian cruise missiles were fired at Odessa, AP has quoted Ukrainian authorities as saying.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Ukraine today, Volodymyr Zelensky said. The country has long awaited a high-profile visit from the US as a sign of support, the BBC said.




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Bulgaria insists on building bridges over the Danube near Silistra and Nikopol

More bridges over the Danube are not just a bilateral issue between Bulgaria and Romania – they are a strategic priority for the prosperity of the entire EU and for our collective security within NATO.  This was emphasized by Deputy Prime Minister..

published on 11/6/25 8:46 AM

Bulgaria and North Macedonia sign an agreement on building a railway tunnel between the two countries

Today, the deputy PMs and ministers of transport of Bulgaria and North Macedonia Grozdan Karadjov and Aleksandar Nikoloski will sign an agreement on the preparation, construction and operation of a cross-border railway tunnel between the two..

published on 11/6/25 7:15 AM

Ex-PM Boyko Borisov: Delyan Peevski is unfairly sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act

GERB leader Boyko Borisov has told the media that he personally participated in talks with American representatives on the lifting of the Magnitsky sanctions against Bulgarian citizens. He said that he also spoke on the subject with David Cameron while..

published on 11/5/25 9:04 PM