Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has lambasted Russian President Putin as someone who has allegedly lost his humanity long ago.
He was commenting on the death of at least 23 people in a rocket attack on a convoy of civilian vehicles near the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya, with another 28 injured, according to the regional governor.
Zelensky lashed out at the attack, calling it Russian retribution for the unbroken Ukrainian resistance to its failed invasion.
“Only absolute terrorists operate this way, the kind of people for whom there is no place in the civilised world,” he wrote in the wake of the attack.
“Peaceful Ukrainians are being wiped out cynically because he long ago lost all of his humanity.”
However, the head of the Russian occupation authorities, Vladimir Rogov, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian troops had fired the shot.
He also put the death toll at 23, but said there were 34 injured.
Meanwhile he has ruled out negotiations with Putin over the war and annexation of four areas in the Ukraine territory.
He said Ukraine was ready for dialogue with Russia, but only under a different Russian president.
He also said his country is applying for an “accelerated” accession to NATO.
“De facto, we have already started our path to NATO. Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure (legal),” Zelensky said in a video published on Telegram.
