Zelenskyy dials Biden; demands defence assistance from US to counter Russian aggression

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday spoke to his United States counterpart Joe Biden and discussed imposing anti-Russian sanctions on Moscow. According to the Twitter post of Zelenskyy, both the leaders discussed defence assistance to Ukraine in order to stop Russia from further escalating the deadly conflict. "American leadership on anti-Russian sanctions & defence assistance to Ukraine was discussed. We must stop the aggressor as soon as possible," wrote Ukrainian President.

Hours after Zelenskyy posted the information regarding his conversation with Biden, the latter also took to the microblogging site and said both of them held discussions on continuing support to Ukraine-- security assistance and humanitarian aid. As per Biden, Ukraine needs both assistance in order to defend itself against Russian aggression. Further, POTUS Biden said that the United States will hold Russia accountable for the ongoing crisis situation in Ukraine.

"I just spoke with President Zelenskyy to discuss our continued support for Ukraine — including security assistance and humanitarian aid — as it defends itself against Russian aggression. We will hold Russia accountable, and our sanctions are already having a devastating impact," wrote Biden on Twitter.

Notably, earlier in the day, Zelenskyy held several telephonic conversations with world leaders. As per the details shared by Zelenskyy on his Twitter handle, he spoke to the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz and the UK Royal Family. "Had a phone conversation with Chancellor @OlafScholz. Spoke about Russia's shelling of residential neighbourhoods in Ukrainian cities during peace talks. Emphasized the need to close the sky over Ukraine. The work on Ukraine's accession to the #EU needs to be accelerated," he stressed.

'History Is Repeating', says Zelenskyy

Nearly an hour after Russian forces hit Ukraine’s main Holocaust memorial of Babyn Yar in Kyiv while targeting the nearby TV tower, resulting in the killing of five people, Zelenskyy took to Twitter and said, "History is repeating". Notably, he was referring to the 1941 massacre in which more than 32,000 Jewish people were killed by Nazi occupiers during their ill-fated Russian campaign 'Mission Barbarossa' against the Soviet Union in World War II. According to historians, Soviet prisoners of war, communists, Ukrainian nationalists were also killed in the massacre.

It is worth mentioning that the country has been witnessing a full-scale invasion of Russian forces since February 24, after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a military operation against its neighbouring country, Ukraine. According to Kyiv's Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko, at least ten people were killed and 35 others were injured after a rocket hit Ukraine's second-biggest city Kharkiv on Tuesday. As per Herashchenko, the building was hit by a cruise missile.

Image: Twitter/@ZelenskyyUa