Zelenskiy demands ‘serious’ steps to end war as Russian deaths mount

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that with 16,000 Russian troops killed so far there must be serious conversations to end the war. Speaking late on Friday 25 March, Zelenskyiy reiterated Ukraine’s terms including sovereignty and territorial integrity, and underlined that conditions should be ‘fair’, declaring: ‘The Ukrainian people won’t accept otherwise.’ Zelenskyy said 26,000 residents had been evacuated from Mariupol though ‘the situation in the city remains absolutely tragic’.