Zelenskyy: 500,000 Ukrainians deported to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that over 500,000 Ukrainian citizens have been deported to Russia since the start of the war.

"They (Russia) have been saying for a long time that Ukraine allegedly has no right to exist independently," said Zelenskyy during his speech before the parliament of Iceland.

He said that the deported Ukrainians "are sent to remote regions of foreign lands, remote regions of Russia" and there was an attempt to assimilate them by force.

Zelenskyy concluded by thanking Iceland for supporting sanctions against Russia and received a standing ovation following the speech.