Capitals - Sheba:
Russian forces continue, for the eleventh consecutive day, to carry out their military operation in Ukraine amid the West's escalation of political, economic and military support for Ukraine.
Russia says that its military operations are aimed at protecting Donbass and Ukraine's disarmament to remove threats from Ukrainian territory to Russia's security, while the West accuses Russia of invading Ukraine and imposes economic sanctions on Moscow and provides political, economic and military support to Ukraine.
In this regard, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed yesterday, Saturday, the complete destruction of the military infrastructure and air defense of the Ukrainian forces during the Russian military operation to protect the residents of Donbass, pointing out that the real threats to Russia's security cannot be ignored.
During a visit to a pilot training center belonging to Aerovolt, on Saturday, Putin indicated that the decision to start the Russian military operation is difficult, but the real threats to Russia's security cannot be ignored, as the Kyiv authorities besieged the lands of Donbass and assaulted the population with heavy weapons for 8 years, killing about 13,000 Russians, and continued In repudiation of the Minsk agreements.
The Russian president made it clear that all Russia's proposals for a settlement in Ukraine are on the table before the Kyiv authorities, and that Moscow hopes for a positive response to them, noting that the main demand is the removal of Ukraine's militarism.
Putin said Russia should understand precisely and clearly what weapons Ukraine has, where they are and who controls them, noting that there are various formulas that Russia is currently discussing, including with representatives of the Kyiv government, in the course of the negotiation process in Belarus.
Putin stressed that NATO supports Ukraine because it stands against Russia, stressing that the imposition of a no-fly zone over Ukraine represents hostile acts against Russia.
Putin said that we are now hearing that a no-fly zone should be imposed on the territory of Ukraine, but that is impossible, and such a zone can only be imposed from the territory of neighboring countries, adding that any move in this direction will be considered in the conflict by that country, from whose territory it creates a danger to our armed forces regardless About the alliances and organizations to which he is affiliated.
On Ukraine's intention to obtain the status of a nuclear state, President Putin made it clear that Russia cannot condone that because it can be helped from outside the ocean in this case, and then NATO becomes Russia's enemy and because we know how the West behaves towards it.
Regarding the imposition of martial law or a state of emergency in Russia, Putin stressed that there are no prerequisites for imposing this and there are no such schemes, because the state of martial law is imposed by a decision of the Federation Council when external aggression and a war threat occur, expressing hope that things will not reach that.
Putin pointed out that the sanctions imposed on Russia are similar to declaring war on it, noting that the destruction of Ukraine's military infrastructure has been practically accomplished, stressing that there is no need for volunteer assistance in the special military operation in Ukraine.
Putin stressed that the decision to put nuclear forces on alert came after British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that NATO could participate in the confrontation, criticizing the countries of the world for ignoring Truss's statements regarding "NATO" in this crisis.
Putin considered that the regime in Kyiv has enjoyed nuclear capabilities for a long time and can manufacture nuclear missiles, and Russia's fate will be different and represents a real threat to it.
Regarding the humanitarian corridors and the terrorist groups’ detention of civilians in the city of Mariupol, Putin said they called from Kyiv and asked for a corridor and we agreed immediately and suspended military actions, but they did not allow anyone to leave while they were hiding behind the population and using them as human shields.
He pointed out that Russia monitors the presence of militants from the Middle East and a number of European countries in Ukraine, warning that they use the so-called mobile jihadists and fill cars with explosives and push them against the forces, but to no avail.
He declared that the aim of the operation is to protect people who have been subjected to persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years, to prevent the militarization of Ukraine and the Nazi tendencies in it, and to bring to justice all those responsible for the bloody crimes against civilians in Donbass
This comes as an American press report said that the United States and its allies are preparing for the possibility that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will be forced to flee the country.
And the American newspaper, Washington Post, on Saturday evening, quoting an unnamed senior US official, reported that the United States fears the defeat of Ukrainian forces at the hands of the Russian army, and therefore the US State Department, the Pentagon and federal agencies have developed plans in case they need to help Zelensky to get out of country borders.
According to the report, the United States is preparing for a scenario in which Zelensky creates and runs a government-in-exile from neighboring Poland.
The newspaper pointed out that Zelensky calls himself "the number one target of Russia", but he assured his compatriots that despite the threats to his life, he does not intend to leave the capital, Kyiv.
In addition, the negotiator, Dmitry Kuleba, commenting on the reality of the negotiations with Russia, said: "I cannot say that there is at least some progress."
On Saturday, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed the killing of one of the members of the first delegation in talks with Russia, Denis Kiriev.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian media reported, quoting a deputy in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, that a Ukrainian security service had arrested a member of the Ukrainian negotiating team, Denis Kiriev, and then killed him.
On the other hand, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that he held talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, on Saturday, to discuss sanctions against Russia and enhance Kyiv's defense capabilities.
In this regard, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a decree requiring the Russian government to draw up a list of countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia, companies, organizations and individuals within two days.
The Russian President also signed another decree, on the temporary procedure for fulfilling obligations to some foreign creditors.
And British Shell announced that it was compelled to buy Russian oil. "Yesterday we made an emergency decision to obtain a shipment of Russian crude oil. Our refineries produce gasoline and diesel fuel, in addition to other products that people use on a daily basis. We would like to continue this without interrupting the supply of crude oil to the refineries," the company statement said.
On the other hand, the Russian "Sberbank" bank confirmed, on Saturday (Sunday local time), that the cards of the companies "Visa" and "MasterCard" issued by the bank will continue to work in Russia, after the two companies announced the suspension of their services within the Russian territory.
"Global payment systems have decided to restrict their work in Russia within days. This decision will not affect the work of Visa and MasterCard cards issued by Sberbank within the country," the bank's press service said in a statement.
The statement indicated that all cards of Sberbank customers will continue to function normally inside Russia, indicating at the same time that financial transactions through electronic stores abroad will be limited.
Earlier this month, US payment card companies Visa and MasterCard banned several Russian financial institutions from their networks, in compliance with government sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine.
The Russian ambassador to Britain, Andrei Keelin, said that legally, it would be difficult to extract palaces from Russian citizens in London, despite threats to do so.
In another context, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the West's transfer of weapons to Ukraine poses a threat to civil aviation.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that about 1.2 million refugees from Ukraine have already arrived in the European Union, and this number will increase several times in the near future.
On the ground, on the eleventh day of Russian military operations in Ukraine, the Russian forces continued their advance towards southern Ukraine and Kiev.
In this regard, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that it had resumed its "operations" in Ukraine, after it announced a ceasefire earlier in the day to allow the evacuation of residents of two besieged cities.
"Due to the lack of desire on the part of the Ukrainian side to influence the nationalists or to extend the ceasefire, (military) operations resumed at 18:00 Moscow time (15:00 GMT)," Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in video statements.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia announced a ceasefire and said it had opened humanitarian corridors so that civilians could leave the strategic coastal city of Mariupol and neighboring Volnovakha.
Konashenkov said that "no civilian" was able to leave through the humanitarian corridors.
He added that "the national formations use the residents of the two cities as human shields."
He stated that "nationalist brigades" took advantage of the ceasefire "to reorganize their ranks and strengthen their positions."
On Saturday, officials in the besieged Mariupol of the Russian forces said that they are delaying the evacuation of civilians, accusing the Russian forces of violating the ceasefire.