The destruction of all our guys in Mariupol can put an end to any format of negotiations
In the second month of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the war entered a grimmer phase — missiles falling again on Kyiv just as its people dared to return, a second city burning in Kharkiv, and Mariupol reduced to a last redoubt of steel and rubble. President Zelenskyy stood before the world not merely as a wartime leader but as a man measuring the distance between survival and erasure, warning that the fate of one besieged city could determine whether peace remained possible at all. The question hanging over every capital in the West was whether the weight of history would move faster than the machinery of alliance.
- Russia launched coordinated missile strikes across eight Ukrainian regions in a single day, signaling a deliberate campaign to shatter defenses before a massive eastern offensive.
- Mariupol teeters on the edge of total collapse — Ukrainian forces cornered in a steel mill, thousands of troops and civilians trapped, and Zelenskyy warning that the city's fall could end all peace talks.
- The human toll has become staggering: over 900 civilians found shot dead near Kyiv, at least 200 children killed nationwide, and thousands more captured or displaced.
- Zelenskyy issued his most urgent appeal yet to Western allies — heavy weapons and aircraft, immediately — framing it as the only alternative to a negotiated settlement that may already be slipping away.
- Russia's loss of its Black Sea flagship has sharpened Moscow's resolve, with military analysts warning the coming eastern assault could reshape the entire trajectory of the war.
On a Saturday in mid-April, a missile struck an armored vehicle plant in Kyiv's southeastern district — the second consecutive day of renewed attacks on a capital that had only just begun to breathe again. Residents had started walking outside. Embassies were preparing to reopen. Then the strikes returned. Mayor Vitali Klitschko told those who had fled to stay away a little longer. Across the country, eight regions were hit within a single day.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, the violence was even more concentrated. Three people died and 34 were wounded on Saturday alone. A missile near an outdoor market left 18 injured among the wreckage. The day before, rockets had killed a 15-year-old boy and an infant in a residential neighborhood. Even Lviv, largely spared until now, was struck by Russian aircraft launched from Belarus. The pattern pointed toward a single strategic aim: degrade Ukrainian defenses ahead of a full-scale assault in the east.
The human cost was becoming impossible to absorb in ordinary terms. More than 900 civilian bodies had been recovered from towns near Kyiv since Russian forces withdrew two weeks earlier, most of them shot. At least 200 children had been killed nationwide. Thousands of Ukrainian troops and civilians had been captured. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk demanded the unconditional release of all civilians held by Russia.
The most desperate situation was in Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces and civilians were trapped under relentless bombardment. Russia claimed its troops had taken most of the city, leaving only the vast Azovstal steel mill in Ukrainian hands. Zelenskyy warned that the city's destruction could end peace negotiations entirely, and made his most urgent appeal yet to Western allies: send heavy weapons and aircraft immediately, or the blockade would have to be broken through diplomacy — diplomacy in which Western partners would need to play a decisive role.
The fall of Mariupol would allow Russian forces from Crimea to fully link with those in the Donbas, a strategic consolidation that could reshape the war. Meanwhile, Austria's chancellor — the first European leader to meet Putin since the invasion began — said the Russian president appeared to believe he was winning. The war ground on, each day bringing new bodies and new pleas, with no resolution yet in sight.
On a Saturday in mid-April, Russian missiles struck an armoured vehicle plant in Kyiv's southeastern Darnytskyi district. It was the second day of renewed attacks on the capital—the day before, a missile facility had been hit. The strike killed one person and wounded several others, arriving just as the city was beginning to show tentative signs of recovery. Residents had started venturing out for walks again. Foreign embassies were preparing to reopen. Then the missiles came.
Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, issued a stark warning to those who had fled the city weeks earlier: do not come back yet. "We're not ruling out further strikes on the capital," he said. "If you have the opportunity to stay a little bit longer in the cities where it's safer, do it." The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the strikes had hit multiple Ukrainian military installations using long-range precision weapons launched from the air. What was clear to observers on the ground was that the whole country remained under threat, not just the capital.
Kyiv was one of eight regions targeted across Ukraine in a single 24-hour period. In Kharkiv, the nation's second-largest city, the intensity was even more severe. Three people were killed and 34 wounded on Saturday alone. A missile strike near an outdoor market sent rescue workers rushing to the scene, where at least 18 people lay injured among the wreckage. "All the windows, all the furniture, all destroyed. And the door, too," said resident Valentina Ulianova, her voice carrying the shock of sudden violence. The day before, rockets had struck a residential area, killing a 15-year-old boy, an infant, and at least eight others. In the western Lviv region, which had seen only sporadic fighting, Russian Su-35 aircraft launched airstrikes after taking off from neighboring Belarus.
The pattern of these attacks suggested a deliberate strategy: weaken Ukraine's defenses across the country in preparation for what military analysts expected to be a full-scale Russian assault in the east. But the human toll was mounting in ways that transcended military calculation. Authorities had found the bodies of more than 900 civilians in towns and villages just outside Kyiv since Russian troops withdrew two weeks earlier—most of them shot dead. Ukraine's prosecutor general's office reported that at least 200 children had been killed nationwide, with more than 360 wounded. Russian forces had captured approximately 700 Ukrainian troops and over 1,000 civilians, according to Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who said Ukraine held a similar number of Russian prisoners and was demanding the release of all civilians without conditions.
But the most urgent crisis was unfolding in Mariupol, the besieged port city where Ukrainian forces and civilians were trapped under relentless bombardment. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia "is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there." The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Ukrainian forces had been driven from most of the city and now held only the massive Azovstal steel mill. Zelenskyy estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops had died in the war so far, with about 10,000 wounded. He warned that the destruction of Mariupol could derail peace negotiations entirely. "The destruction of all our guys in Mariupol—what they are doing now—can put an end to any format of negotiations," he said.
In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy made an urgent plea to Western allies: Ukraine needed heavy weapons, aircraft, and other military support immediately. "Either our partners give Ukraine all of the necessary heavy weapons, the planes, and without exaggeration immediately, so we can reduce the pressure of the occupiers on Mariupol and break the blockade, or we do so through negotiations, in which the role of our partners should be decisive." Capturing Mariupol would allow Russian forces advancing from the south through annexed Crimea to link up fully with troops in the Donbas, Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland—a strategic prize that would reshape the war's trajectory.
The escalation came after Russia's Black Sea Fleet flagship had been lost, a humiliating blow that prompted Moscow's military command to vow intensified strikes on the capital. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who had met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow the previous week—the first European leader to do so since the invasion began on February 24—said the Russian president appeared to believe he was winning. "We have to look in his eyes and we have to confront him with that, what we see in Ukraine," Nehammer said on NBC's "Meet the Press." He described his conversation with Putin as "not a friendly" one, particularly after visiting Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where more than 350 bodies had been discovered, many bearing signs of execution and torture during Russian occupation.
Meanwhile, a Russian major general named Vladimir Frolov, whose troops had been among those besieging Mariupol, was buried in St. Petersburg after dying in battle. Ukraine claimed that several Russian generals and dozens of high-ranking officers had been killed since the invasion began. The war was grinding forward with no clear end in sight, each day bringing new discoveries of civilian victims and new pleas for the weapons that might change the equation on the ground.
Citações Notáveis
The destruction of all our guys in Mariupol—what they are doing now—can put an end to any format of negotiations.— President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
We're not ruling out further strikes on the capital. If you have the opportunity to stay a little bit longer in the cities where it's safer, do it.— Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does Zelenskyy keep saying the destruction of Mariupol could end negotiations? Isn't that backwards—shouldn't he want to negotiate to save it?
He's saying that if Russia completely destroys the city and kills everyone there, there's nothing left to negotiate over. The city becomes a symbol of Russian brutality so total that Ukrainians won't accept any deal that lets Russia claim victory.
So the siege is also psychological—a message?
It's both. Tactically, taking Mariupol links Russian forces north and south. But yes, the deliberate destruction sends a message: surrender or watch this happen to your other cities.
And the Western weapons he's demanding—why does he frame it as either weapons or negotiations?
Because he's out of time. Without heavy weapons now, Ukraine loses the military advantage it has. With them, he can negotiate from strength. Without them, he negotiates from desperation.
What does Nehammer's visit to Putin actually change?
Probably nothing immediate. But it tells Putin that even neutral European leaders are watching, that the world sees Bucha. It's a warning dressed as diplomacy.
And the Russian general buried in St. Petersburg—does that matter?
It matters because it's visible. When generals die, soldiers know the war is real and costly. Russia can't hide that. It changes how people at home think about the fighting.