Vladimir Putin believes Russia is winning the war in Ukraine despite a series of military setbacks, said the first western leader to meet him face to face since the invasion began.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Mr Putin was operating in “his own war logic” and still believes the offensive in Ukraine is necessary despite mounting losses and tightening western sanctions on Moscow.
It came as Britain said Russia’s ultimate objective of bending Ukraine to the Kremlin’s will remained unchanged despite its shift of focus to the south and east.
Moscow on Sunday urged Ukraine to surrender the city of Mariupol, the scene of some of the war’s heaviest fighting and a strategically located port that would connect Russian-occupied territories in Donbas and Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was “deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there” in Mariupol and warned that a massacre there could put a stop to any peace negotiations between the two sides.
“The more Borodyanka-like cases appear, there will be no chance that negotiations will be held,” he said, referring to one of the towns near Kyiv where grisly scenes were discovered after Russian forces withdrew.
Mr Nehammer told NBC’s Meet The Press he had confronted Mr Putin about the alleged war crimes by Russian forces during his closed-door meeting at the Kremlin last week.
“We have to look in his eyes and we have to confront him with what we see in Ukraine,” said Mr Nehammer, who was criticised in some quarters for becoming the first leader of an EU member state to visit Russia’s president since the country invaded Ukraine.
He said Mr Putin had responded that he would co-operate with an international investigation but did not trust the western countries accusing him of war crimes.
“I think he is now in his own war logic,” Mr Nehammer said. “He thinks the war is necessary for security guarantees for the Russian Federation.
“I think he believes he is winning the war.”
Ukraine says Russia has lost more than 20,000 troops and scores of tanks, helicopters and warplanes during the invasion. The Kremlin has been vague about casualties but has acknowledged significant losses.
Western countries have also reported low morale among the invading troops, while Russia suffered another setback last week when the flagship missile cruiser Moskva sank at sea.
But Ukraine is bracing for a new attack in the Donbas after Russia moved troops from Kyiv towards the south and east, amid suggestions Mr Putin wants a triumph to boast about by the time of the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9.
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A Ukranian serviceman looks into a crater and a destroyed home are pictured in the village of Yatskivka, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
Smoke raises from an oil refinery in Lysychansk about 120km north of Donetsk. AFP -
A view of a car destroyed by a military strike, during Russia's invasion in the village of Kukhari, in Kyiv region, Ukraine. Reuters -
A local resident Serhii pets a cat next to a residential house destroyed by a military strike during Russia's invasion in the village of Kukhari, in Kyiv region, Ukraine. Reuters -
A local resident Serhii stands next to a used multiple rocket launch shell, as Russia?s invasion on Ukraine continues, in the village of Kukhari, in Kyiv region, Ukraine. Reuters -
Injured civilians sit in an ambulance before being taken to a hospital after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen walk among debris of damaged buildings after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Children sheltering in a subway turned into a makeshift bomb shelter watch performers who came to do a puppet show in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
A resident shows deminers the site of an empty rocket that struck the roof of a residential building as they clear the area in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
Nadiya Trubchaninova, 70, cries while holding the coffin of her son Vadym, 48, who was killed by Russian soldiers last March 30 in Bucha, during his funeral in the cemetery of Mykulychi, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. After nine days since the discovery of Vadym's corpse, finally Nadiya could have a proper funeral for him. This is not where Nadiya Trubchaninova thought she would find herself at 70 years of age, hitchhiking daily from her village to the shattered town of Bucha trying to bring her son's body home for burial. AP -
In this image from a video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian Nicolai, 41, says goodbye to his daughter Elina, 4, and his wife Lolita on a train in Lviv, western Ukraine, bound for Poland. AP Photo -
A local resident crosses a street damaged during the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
Petro Nazarii, 39, carries luggage into the house of a family temporarily hosting his family in Tijuana, Mexico, as they wait to enter the US. Reuters -
A local resident of Mariupol walks past the Palace of Culture, which was damaged during the conflict. Reuters -
The entrance of the Illich Steel and Iron Works in Mariupol. Reuters -
The southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
Protesters set off torches during a Pro-Russian protest in Belgrade, Serbia. EPA -
Local residents sit in a car as they leave the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
Local residents walk past a damaged apartment building in Mariupol. Reuters
Britain’s Defence Ministry said in a regular intelligence update that Russia was moving military hardware from the territory of its ally Belarus towards eastern Ukraine, including locations close to Kharkiv and Severodonetsk.
Russian artillery continues to strike Ukrainian positions in the east “where Russia plans to renew its offensive activity”, the ministry said.
“Though Russia’s operational focus has shifted to eastern Ukraine, Russia’s ultimate objective remains the same,” it said.
“It is committed to compelling Ukraine to abandon its Euro-Atlantic orientation and asserting its own regional dominance.”
Mr Zelenskyy is demanding more weapons from western allies to fight off the Russian attack, especially in Donbas and Mariupol.
He said in an overnight address that allies should “give Ukraine all the necessary heavy weapons, planes, and, without exaggeration, immediately … so that we can reduce the pressure of the occupiers on Mariupol and unblock it”.
“The United States, the United Kingdom, Poland and several other countries support us very well today,” he said. “But they can do more, much more.”
