LVIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Saturday that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy and likened the West's sanctions on Russia to 鈥渄eclaring war,鈥� while collapsed amid scenes of terror.
With the Kremlin鈥檚 rhetoric growing fiercer and a reprieve from fighting dissolving, Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians . By nighttime Russian forces had intensified their shelling of Mariupol, while dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.
Bereft mothers mourned slain children, wounded soldiers were fitted with tourniquets and doctors worked by the light of their cellphones as bleakness and desperation pervaded. Crowds of men lined up in the capital to join the Ukrainian military.
The government has ordered men between the ages of 18 and 60 to stay and be available to fight. Some, like Volodymyr Onysko, have volunteered.
鈥淲e know why we are here. We know why we defend our country,鈥� Onysko told Britain鈥檚 Sky News. 鈥淲e know what we are doing, and that鈥檚 why we will win.鈥�
for the war squarely on the Ukrainian leadership and slammed their resistance to the invasion.
鈥淚f they continue to do what they are doing, they are calling into question the future of Ukrainian statehood,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if this happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.鈥�
He also hit out at that have crippled Russia's economy and sent the value of its currency tumbling.
鈥淭hese sanctions that are being imposed, they are akin to declaring war,鈥� he said during a televised meeting with flight attendants from Russian airline Aeroflot. 鈥淏ut thank God, we haven鈥檛 got there yet.鈥�
Russia's financial system suffered yet another blow as operations in the country.
Ten days after Russian forces invaded, the struggle to enforce the temporary cease-fires in Mariupol and the eastern city of Volnovakha showed the fragility of efforts to stop the fighting across Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said Russian artillery fire and airstrikes had prevented residents from leaving before the agreed-to evacuations got underway. of sabotaging the effort.
A third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place Monday, according to Davyd Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation. He gave no additional details, including where they would take place.
Previous meetings were held in Belarus and led to the failed cease-fire agreement to create humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of children, women and older people from besieged cities, where pharmacies have run bare, hundreds of thousands face food and water shortages, and .
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said thousands of residents had gathered for safe passage out of the city of 430,000 when shelling began and the evacuation was stopped. Later in the day, he said the attack had escalated further.
鈥淭he city is in a very, very difficult state of siege,鈥� Boychenko told Ukrainian TV. 鈥淩elentless shelling of residential blocks is ongoing, airplanes have been dropping bombs on residential areas. The Russian occupants are using heavy artillery, including Grad multiple rocket launchers.鈥�
Russia has made significant advances in the south, seeking to cut off Ukraine鈥檚 access to the sea. Capturing Mariupol could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Meanwhile the head of the Chernihiv region said Russia has dropped powerful bombs on residential areas of the city of the same name, which has a population of 290,000. Vyacheslav Chaus posted a photo online of what he said was an undetonated FAB-500, a 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) bomb.
鈥淯sually this weapon is used against military-industrial facilities and fortified structures,鈥� Chaus said.
In a speech to Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed to "the 500-kilogram bombs that were dropped on the houses of Ukrainians. Look at Borodyanka, at the destroyed schools, at the blown-up kindergartens. At the damaged Kharkiv Assumption Cathedral. Look what Russia has done.鈥�
The West has broadly backed Ukraine, offering aid and weapons and slapping Russia with vast sanctions. But the fight itself has been left to Ukrainians, who have expressed a mixture of courageous resolve and despondency.
鈥淯kraine is bleeding,鈥� Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a video released Saturday, 鈥渂ut Ukraine has not fallen.鈥�
Russian troops advanced on a third nuclear power plant, having already taken control of one of the four operating in the country and the closed plant in Chernobyl, .
Zelenskyy pleaded with the lawmakers for additional help, specifically fighter planes to help secure the skies over Ukraine, even as he insisted Russia was being defeated.
鈥淲e鈥檙e inflicting losses on the occupants they could not see in their worst nightmare,鈥� Zelenskyy said.
Russian troops took control of the southern port city of Kherson this week. Although they have encircled Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Sumy, Ukrainian forces have managed to keep control of key cities in central and southeastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
U.S. President Joe Biden called Zelenskyy early Sunday, Kyiv time, to discuss Russia sanctions and speeding U.S. assistance to Ukraine. The White House said the conversation also covered talks between Russia and Ukraine but did not give details.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Poland to meet with the prime minister and foreign minister, a day after attending a NATO meeting in Brussels in which the alliance pledged to step up support for eastern flank members.
Blinken also spoke by phone with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said Beijing opposes any moves that 鈥渁dd fuel to the flames鈥� in Ukraine, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Blinken said the world is watching to see which nations stand up for freedom and sovereignty, the State Department said.
In Moscow, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Putin at the Kremlin. Israel maintains good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, and Bennett has offered to act as an intermediary in the conflict, but no details of the meeting emerged immediately. Bennett's office said he spoke twice with Zelenskyy afterward.
In the wake of Western sanctions, Aeroflot, Russia鈥檚 flagship state-owned airline, announced plans to halt all international flights except to Belarus starting Tuesday.
The death toll of the conflict was difficult to measure. The U.N. human rights office said at least 351 civilians have been confirmed killed since the Feb. 24 invasion, but the true number is probably much higher.
Ukraine's military is vastly outmatched by Russia's, but its professional and volunteer forces have fought back with fierce tenacity. Even in cities that have fallen, there were signs of resistance.
Onlookers in Chernihiv cheered as they watched a Russian military plane fall from the sky and crash, according to video released by the Ukrainian government. In Kherson, hundreds of protesters waved blue and yellow Ukrainian flag sand shouted, 鈥淕o home.鈥�
A vast Russian armored column threatening Ukraine鈥檚 capital remained stalled outside Kyiv. Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said in the afternoon that the military situation was quieter overall and Russian forces hadn't 鈥渢aken active actions since the morning.鈥�
The U.S. Congress is considering a request for $10 billion in emergency funding for humanitarian aid and security needs. The U.N. said it would increase its humanitarian operations both inside and outside Ukraine, and the Security Council scheduled a meeting for Monday on the worsening situation.
The U.N. World Food Program has warned of an impending hunger crisis in Ukraine, a major global wheat supplier, saying millions will need food aid 鈥渋mmediately.鈥�
Kyiv鈥檚 central train station remained crowded with people desperate to flee. 鈥淧eople just want to live,鈥� one woman, Ksenia, said.
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Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed to this report.
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Yuras Karmanau, The Associated Press
