Ukraine warns against lifting sanctions on Russia, says it would escalate war

As Ukraine inched closer to a prisoner swap, a top official warned the international community against lifting sanctions on the Russian Federation. Appearing in an interview with Nastoyaschee Vremya, advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Mykhailo Podoliak said that lifting the sanctions in exchange for Ukrainian ports would only intensify the ongoing war. He said it could also trigger the possibility of the Kremlin attempting to invade other countries. It has been 88 days since Vladimir Putin launched what he termed his “special military operation” on Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, Podoliak asserted that negotiations on concessions for the Russians cannot take place since it would indicate the EU and the US' weakness to them. He added that Russia is always blackmailing and willing to murder people in order to gain an advantage. Talking about lifting the sanction, the Ukrainian official said that if some sanctions are lifted, it will encourage Russia to push the conflict further not only in Ukraine but they will realize that the world is truly weak, just as it was before the Ukraine conflict.

Zelenskyy calls for heavy weapons supply

Meanwhile, the country's embattled President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Saturday, reiterated calls for heavy weapons supply to his country’s army. Speaking alongside Portuguese PM António Costa, the 44-year-old leader stressed that Kyiv wasn’t looking to attack the Russian Federation with weapons, however, was instead trying to safeguard its own territories. On Saturday, Costa became the latest leader to visit the war-torn country. 

“Everybody is afraid that Ukraine will somehow attack the Russian Federation. I want to remind everyone that we are waging war on our own territory. Donbas, being an occupied territory of Russia, has already become accustomed to Russian passports being issued there. We would like to say that it is not a very good custom”. He then asserted that it was Ukrainian territory and “we are going step-by-step and will go further to liberate our territories”. 

“We cannot pay the price of tens or hundreds of thousands of lives, so we ask you to help us. These multiple launch rocket systems, which stand in some countries, just stand still - they are the key to our survival,” Zelenskyy said referring to US’ resistance to providing long-range rockets. 

(Image: AP)