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Ukraine has warned the world that President Putin could “destroy Europe” if he is not stopped from waging war in the former Soviet nation.
Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukrainian Defence Minister, appealed directly to Britain and Nato to tighten sanctions on Moscow and offer more military support to Kyiv.
Speaking alongside Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace at the ministry in London, Mr Reznikov accused Russia of committing “genocide” in the besieged city of Mariupol and offered a grim war tally showing more than 150 children had been killed.
“Several small cities in Ukraine have simply been wiped off the face of the Earth," Mr Reznikov said. Destruction on this scale had not been seen in Europe since the Second World War, he said.
He accused Moscow of “state terrorism” and said it was targeting civilians because it is “afraid of our army”. He urged the UK and other nations to work together “to stop the evil that is trying to destroy Europe”.
“This is why the Kremlin must be stopped because it will go further, it will attack others countries,” he said.
Ukrainian troops have destroyed more than 500 Russian tanks and 1,500 armoured combat vehicles, Mr Reznikov said, and killed thousands of invading troops. He praised Britain for its lead role in providing lethal aid to Ukraine.
“Some of them were killed with weapons provided to us by the British government and it helped save many lives of Ukrainians, deter the aggressors and thwart [Putin’s] plans.”
As of Sunday, 150 children in Ukraine had been killed by the Russian military, he said, with more than 400 schools and kindergartens destroyed, and 110 hospitals hit. Mr Reznikov said it was impossible to put a figure on the civilian death toll, as countless bodies remained buried under the rubble of shelled homes.
“Thousands and thousands of civilians were killed. We do not know exactly much, many people are still under the rubble of hundreds of houses destroyed by the Russians,” he said.
“Russia is now committing a real act of genocide against the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. For three weeks, 400,000 citizens have been surrounded without food, water, light and heat.”
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A firefighter works at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman removes pieces of broken glass from a shop window after a bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
Residents clean the street outside apartments damaged by shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A man walks at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Rescuers work at the site of buildings damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Launch of missiles by the coastal missile system 'Bastion' on infrastructure facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from an undisclosed position in Crimea. As a result of a strike with long-range precision weapons, an arsenal with weapons and military equipment of Ukrainian troops in the village of Orzhev, 14 kilometres north-west of the city of Rivne, two Tochka-U launchers near Kiev, and eight anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed. EPA -
Pictures lie amidst the rubble of former teacher Natalia's house which was was hit in a military strike, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A Ukrainian serviceman rests at his position in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A hug for a child at the railway station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, as Ukrainian refugees make their way out of the war zone. AFP -
Displaced Ukrainians on a Poland-bound train bid farewell at Lviv, western Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen rest in Kharkiv. AP -
A car wrecked and burnt by shelling in a street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A member of pro-Russian unit in uniform without insignia handles a mortar round at a weapons depot near Marinka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Reuters -
The aftermath of shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. EPA -
Nurses in tears after Russian shelling of a psychiatric hospital in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP -
Candles and lights form a giant peace sign during the Avaaz vigil in front of the European Council and Commission buildings in Brussels, Belgium. AP -
A wrecked car in a ruined street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Rescue workers at an industrial building damaged by an air strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
The monument to the Duke of Richelieu, one of the founders of the city of Odesa, is covered by sand bags. Near by, a placard shows the building before the Russian invasion. EPA -
People clean up a room in an apartment building in Kyiv destroyed in an air raid, as Russia presses on with its invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
An instructor shows citizens how to fire the weapon during a shooting training session in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. Reuters -
Russian troops hurl stun grenades at demonstrators protesting against the invasion, in Kherson, Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen stand guard at a military checkpoint in Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees Sasha Alexandra and Olena embrace shortly before being allowed to cross into the United States to seek asylum in Tijuana, Mexico. They fled their city of Dnipro this month and travelled to Germany before flying to Mexico. AFP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a broadcast speech in Kyiv, calling on citizens to 'drive the occupiers out'. EPA -
An unexploded rocket in a cemetery in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP -
A portrait of a young woman who died during a Russian attack, next to her fresh grave in the Mykolaiv cemetery. AFP -
Tents set up for Ukrainian refugees inside a train station in Bucharest, Romania. AFP -
Workers cover a sculpture outside the home of Lviv National Opera to protect it from damage amid fighting in Ukraine. Reuters -
Olena, the mother of Denys Snihur, a 25-year-old soldier killed by Russian shelling in the northern town of Ovruch, mourns him at his funeral in Lviv. Reuters -
All that is left of a shopping centre after shelling in Kyiv. AP -
Civilian volunteers attend a Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces training camp in Brovary, north-east of Kyiv. AP -
Refugees at a temporary accommodation centre in a school gymnasium in Taganrog, Russia. EPA -
Oil storage tanks burn in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in a satellite image from Maxar Technologies. EPA -
President Joe Biden discusses the US response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the Business Roundtable CEO Quarterly Meeting. EPA -
The wreck of a Russian military vehicle near Kharkiv. EPA -
Firefighters work at the site of a shopping centre bombing in Kyiv. Reuters -
Seven-year-old Amellia Anisovych, a refugee from Ukraine, sings the Ukraine national anthem at the start of a fund-raising concert in Lodz, Poland. Amellia became known for singing a song from the film 'Frozen' in a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AP -
People queue at the National Stadium in Warsaw to apply for ID numbers that will entitle them to work and receive free health care and education in Poland. AP -
Checkout tills are damaged at a supermarket in a shopping centre that was damaged in a bombing in Kyiv. Reuters -
Cars are damaged at the site of a bombing at a shopping center in Kyiv. Reuters -
A woman comforts a boy while refugees wait for Ukrainian police to check their papers and belongings in Brovary, Ukraine. AP -
A refugee family sit in front of a tent at a temporary shelter offered by the Free Christian Church in Uszka, Hungary. Getty Images -
Firefighters carry a ladder across the debris following Russian shellings that destroyed the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv. AFP -
A rescuer inside a shopping mall damaged by an airstrike in Kyiv. Reuters
Ukraine last week accused Russia of bombing a theatre in the strategic city on the Sea of Azov where about 1,200 women and children had been sheltering. Miraculously, no deaths were reported and efforts to rescue survivors continue.
Kyiv on Monday rejected an offer from Moscow for Ukrainian troops in Mariupol to lay down their weapons in exchange for safe passage.
“There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms," Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told Ukrainian Pravda. "We have already informed the Russian side about this.
“I wrote: 'Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open the [humanitarian] corridor'.”
