In reaction to Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the West to stop all Russians from entering their nations.
In an effort to punish the Kremlin even harder, the besieged president encouraged international leaders to restrict their borders to all nationals of the invading country.
‘The most essential sanctions are to seal the borders — because the Russians are grabbing someone else’s territory,’ he told the Washington Post. He went on to say that Russians should be made to ‘live in their own world until their mentality changes.’
The Ukrainian president wants the West to restrict its borders to Russian residents for a year and impose a complete embargo on Russian energy purchases.
Throughout the battle, he has advocated for more punitive actions against Putin, claiming that the present sanctions are “weak” in comparison to what is required.
While Russian airlines are barred from flying over most of Europe and the United States, people are not barred from traveling.
Sanna Marin, Finland’s prime minister, proposed yesterday for limits on Russian tourist visas. Some argue that denying Russians access would have a negative effect on individuals who are leaving the country exactly because they disagree with Putin’s government.
‘Whichever sort of Russian… make them go to Russia,’ Zelensky stated.
‘They’ll get it then. ‘This [conflict] has nothing to do with us,’ they’ll say. Can the whole population be held accountable?’ It can. The people chose this administration, and they are not opposing it, disputing with it, or yelling at it. Russian shelling has killed at least three Ukrainian citizens and injured 23 others in the previous 24 hours, including an incident near a Russian-occupied nuclear power facility.
Over 120 missiles were launched from Grad multiple rocket launchers in the southern town of Nikopol, which is located across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
According to him, many residential complexes and industrial facilities were destroyed.
In recent days, Ukraine and Russia have accused one other of shelling Europe’s biggest nuclear facility, raising the possibility of a nuclear explosion.
In his weekly video speech, Zelensky referred to the 1986 tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power facility in Ukraine, which was still a Soviet country at the time. He demanded more sanctions against Russia for “creating the danger” of a nuclear calamity. ‘We are aggressively educating the world about Russian nuclear blackmail – the shelling and mining of Zaporizhzhia NPP facilities,’ Zelenskyy added.
‘Russia will not listen to statements or worries…
The Chernobyl accident was caused by a single reactor explosion; the Zaporizhzhia NPP has six generating units.’
The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine’s military was assaulting the facility and asked Western nations to put a stop to it.
Following last week’s bombardment, a Russian-installed official in the partly controlled Zaporizhzhia region stated the plant’s air defense system will be upgraded.
The leader of the Kremlin-backed government, Evgeny Balitsky, said Russian state television on Tuesday that electricity lines and damaged plant blocks had been restored.
‘The factory is running regularly, albeit with a heightened level of security,’ Balitsky said.
A serviceman wearing a Russian flag on his uniform stands watch near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility. The Ukrainian counteroffensive and Russian defensive efforts in seized territories have drew more weapons to southern Ukraine.
After failing to conquer Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, early in the conflict, the Russian military concentrated its efforts on capturing the whole country’s eastern Donbas area.
For the last eight years, pro-Moscow separatists have battled Russian military in the area and control some territory as self-proclaimed republics.
According to the British Defense Ministry, Russian soldiers have made the greatest progress in the last month in marching toward the town of Bakhmut – a 6 mile advance.
‘In other Donbas regions where Russia was aiming to break through, its troops have not achieved more than 3 kilometers throughout this 30-day period; probably definitely much less than envisaged,’ according to the UK ministry.
Despite the need for focus in southern Ukraine, Russia has continued to target Ukrainian positions in the east, according to the ministry.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, said the Russians were attempting to accelerate their advance in many places.
Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, has been shelled four times in the last 24 hours, causing some major infrastructure to be destroyed.