What you need to know right now
- A defiant Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv remained under Ukrainian control on Saturday as Russian forces renewed their assault, pounding the capital and other cities with artillery and cruise missiles.
- Russian forces are becoming increasingly frustrated by what the United States believes is "viable" Ukrainian resistance, a US defence official said.
- In a sea of blue and yellow flags and banners, protesters around the world showed their support for the people of Ukraine on Saturday and called on governments to do more to help Kyiv.
- The EU is in talks over a third package of sanctions on Russia, an EU diplomat told Reuters.
- Ukraine denied suggestions that it was refusing to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia but said it was also not ready to accept ultimatums or unacceptable conditions.
- Russian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, said Chechen fighters had been deployed to Ukraine.
- The bulk of Russian forces involved in the advance on Ukraine's capital Kyiv are now 30km (19 miles) from the city centre, Britain's defence ministry said before lunchtime on Saturday.
- Russian troops captured the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Russia's defence ministry said. However, British armed forces minister James Heappey said Britain did not believe Russian forces had captured the city.
- Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) denied a report earlier on Saturday that Russian helicopters had landed in the Lviv region, a development that would have signalled a widening of the theatre of Moscow's invasion.
- Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier urged the Ukrainian military to overthrow the country's "neo-Nazi" leadership and negotiate peace.
- Kyiv officials have warned residents of street fighting in the capital since the early hours, with an extended curfew now in place for safety.
- Refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued to pour across its western borders on Saturday, with around 100,000 reaching Poland in two days, finding temporary sanctuary in sports halls and train stations.
- At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Health Ministry was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
- Russia vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on Friday that would have deplored Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, while China abstained from the vote.
- The White House said the United States, in a rare move, would impose sanctions on Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. The European Union and Canada are doing the same.
- A decision to cut Russia off from the global SWIFT payment system will be taken in a matter of days, the governor of a central bank within the euro zone told Reuters.
- Russia will respond to the seizure of money of Russian citizens and companies abroad by seizing funds of foreigners and foreign companies in Russia, RIA news agency quoted the deputy head of the security, Dmitry Medvedev, as saying.
- Germany has approved the delivery of 400 rocket-propelled grenades from the Netherlands to Ukraine, confirming a shift in policy after Berlin faced criticism for refusing to send weapons to Kyiv.
- French sea police seized a ship on Saturday that authorities suspect belongs to a Russian company targeted by European Union sanctions over the war in Ukraine, a government official told Reuters.
- Twitter is being restricted for some users in Russia, the social media company said in a tweet on Saturday.#
- US president Joe Biden instructed the US State Department to release up to an additional $350 million worth of weapons from US stocks to Ukraine on Friday as it struggles to repulse a Russian invasion.
- Pope Francis called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and expressed his "most profound pain" for the country's suffering.
9.55pm: British prime minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that the world should cut Russia off from the global SWIFT payments system and said more countries supported such a move.
"What you have seen just today is more countries joining the call of the UK to use SWIFT," Johnson said. He said more countries had said they would not block cutting Russia off from SWIFT.
"Things are not going all the way [of] President Putin," Mr Johnson said of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
9.05pm: German airline Lufthansa said it will cancel all flights to Russia and will cease using Russian airspace for the coming week, citing the "emerging regulatory situation".
"Flights that are in Russian airspace will leave it again shortly," a spokesperson for the company said, adding that the company was in close contact with national and international authorities and would continue to monitor the situation closely.
Later, Germany's transport ministry tweeted that the minister is in favour of closing Germany's airspace to Russian aeroplanes and has ordered that all necessary measures be put in place.
8.45pm: The United Nations Security Council is due to vote on Sunday to call for a rare emergency special session of the 193-member UN General Assembly on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which would be held on Monday, diplomats said.
The vote by the 15-member council is procedural so none of the five permanent council members - Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States - can wield their vetoes. The move needs nine votes in favour and is likely to pass, diplomats said.
Only 10 such emergency special sessions of the General Assembly have been convened since 1950.
The request for a session on Ukraine comes after Russia vetoed on Friday a draft UN Security Council resolution that would have deplored Moscow's invasion. China, India and UAE abstained, while the remaining 11 members voted in favour.
Meanwhile, Reuters witnesses in Kyiv reported occasional blasts and gunfire in the city on Saturday evening, but it was not clear exactly where it was coming from.
I spoke today with @ZelenskyyUa and conveyed the determination of the @UN to enhance humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.
Respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians are now paramount.— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 26, 2022
8.20pm: The European Union will facilitate the delivery of military aid to Ukraine, EU Council president Charles Michel said on Twitter late on Saturday.
Mr Michel did not give any details but referred to an earlier tweet in which EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced a meeting of EU foreign ministers for Sunday.
7.30pm: Ukraine will not be connecting its electricity grid to Belarus grid after it had completed testing, its energy minister told Ukrainian TV on Saturday.
Earlier, Ukraine has started testing its power grid in a step to link it up with a European network and decouple from a grid linked to Belarus and other former Soviet States.
7.05pm: A journalist and a photographer from Danish tabloid Ekstra-Bladet were shot and injured while reporting from eastern Ukraine on Saturday, the paper said.
Journalist Stefan Weichert and photographer Emil Filtenborg Mikkelsen were shot while driving in a car in the town of Ohtyrka, some 90km northwest of Kharkiv, according to Ekstra-Bladet.
"This is an ugly reminder of the dangers journalists in Ukraine face every day to document the horrors of the war," Denmark's foreign minister Jeppe Kofod said on Twitter.
6.45pm: A Ukrainian presidential advisor has said an attack by Russian forces on the country's capital Kyiv is not advancing, adding troops have not made any serious advance in a day.
The adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that around 3,500 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured so far in Moscow's assault on Ukraine.
"We are striking the enemy around Kyiv. The enemy is not moving for now," Oleksiy Arestovych said.
6.30pm: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed moves to disconnect Russia from "global financial civilisation" in a video message on Saturday.
A French presidential official said earlier on Saturday that European Union members were close to agreeing to exclude Russia from the SWIFT international payment system.
"Our diplomats fought around the clock to inspire all European countries to agree on a strong and fair decision to disconnect Russia from the international interbanking network. We also have this victory," Mr Zelenskiy said.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with Me Zelenskiy on Saturday, telling him the world body plans to "enhance humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine", a UN spokesperson said.
We’re aware that Twitter is being restricted for some people in Russia and are working to keep our service safe and accessible.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) February 26, 2022
6pm: US president Joe Biden has instructed the US state department to release up to an additional $350 million (€311 million) worth of weapons from US stocks to Ukraine on Friday as it struggles to repulse a Russian invasion.
In a memorandum to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Mr Biden directed that the money allocated through the Foreign Assistance Act be designated for Ukraine's defence.
Ukraine has been asking for Javelin anti-tank weapons and Stinger missiles to shoot down aircraft and on Saturday, Mr Blinken said in a statement that this third authorisation for weapons shipments to Ukraine was "unprecedented."
The Pentagon said the weapons included anti-armour, small arms, body armour and various munitions in support of Ukraine's front-line defenders. In addition, a State Department spokesperson said the material included anti-aircraft systems.
5.50pm: Russian troops are approaching Ukraine's nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia and have aimed their rockets at the site, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister has said.
Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, some 100km north of Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
This comes after the Ukrainian government instructed power stations to switch to natural gas to preserve strategic coal reserves.
5.10pm: Germany has approved the delivery of 400 RPGs from the Netherlands to Ukraine, the defence ministry in Berlin said, confirming a shift in policy after Berlin faced criticism for refusing to send weapons to Kyiv, unlike other Western allies.
"The approval has been confirmed by the chancellery," a spokesman for the defence ministry said on Saturday. The RPGs come from stocks of the German military.
Germany has a long-standing policy of not exporting weapons to war zones, rooted partly in its bloody 20th-century history and resulting pacifism. Countries aiming to onpass German weapons exports need to apply for approval in Berlin first.
4.20pm: In a sea of blue and yellow flags and banners, protesters around the world showed their support for the people of Ukraine on Saturday and called on governments to do more to help Kyiv, punish Russia and avoid a broader conflict. One protester in Dublin said: “Unfortunately I am Russian, I hold a Russian passport, and I am ashamed of that.”
3.55pm: A resident of Kyiv described the damage in Ukraine’s capital as “surreal” after sharing photographs of children playing in the rubble of a decimated tower block. Maia Mikhaluk (51) said she had read that a Russian rocket had been hit by Ukraine’s air defences and the debris had fallen into the building featured in her photos.
3.44pm: The Russian advance into Ukraine has temporarily slowed, probably because of logistical problems and strong resistance, Britain's defence ministry said on Saturday. "The speed of the Russian advance has temporarily slowed likely as a result of acute logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance," it said in an intelligence update. "The capture of Kyiv remains Russia's primary military objective."
Latest intelligence update on Ukraine pic.twitter.com/k3XadYzUoL
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 26, 2022
3.40pm: KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France, said on Saturday it had instructed two flights en route to Russia to turn around due to European sanctions against the country. A spokesperson for the company said the reason was that, under the sanctions, reserve parts can no longer be sent to Russia, even for an airline's own use.
3.30pm: More than 100 people took part in a protest outside the Russian Embassy in Dublin this afternoon against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, with demonstrators calling for the expulsion of the Russian Ambassador to Ireland.
3.25pm: All Russian units in Ukraine were on Saturday given the order to resume their offensive from all directions after a pause on Friday, the RIA news agency quoted Russia's defence ministry as saying. Echoing similar comments by the Kremlin, the ministry said Friday's pause had been made in anticipation of talks between Moscow and Kyiv but the offensive resumed after Ukraine refused to negotiate.
3.16pm: Germany is in the process of approving the delivery of 400 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) to Ukraine by a third country, an EU diplomat told Reuters on Saturday. Germany had supplied the RPGs to the third country in the past, the diplomat said. Countries aiming to onpass German weapons exports need to apply for approval in Berlin first. So far, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ruled out the delivery of lethal weapons to Ukraine.
2.50pm: Russian forces are becoming increasingly frustrated by what the United States believes is "viable" Ukrainian resistance, a US defence official said on Saturday. "We know that they have not made the progress that they have wanted to make, particularly in the north. They have been frustrated by what they have seen is a very determined resistance," the official said, without providing evidence. "It has slowed them down," the official added.
2.43pm: The official website of the Kremlin, the office of Russian president Vladimir Putin, kremlin.ru, was down on Saturday, following reports of cyberattacks on various other Russian government and state media websites.
2.30pm: Russia is ready to work closely with all constructive forces for the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis in the interests of peace and stability, the Interfax news agency quoted Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Saturday. He made the comments in a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
2.19pm: The European Union should speed Ukraine's path to membership, Polish president Andrzej Duda said, adding that Ukraine should also have access to EU funds for reconstruction. "Poland supports an express path for Ukraine membership in the European Union," he wrote on Twitter. "Candidate status should be granted immediately and membership talks initiated immediately thereafter."
Polska opowiada się za ekspresową ścieżką członkostwa Ukrainy w Unii Europejskiej. Status kandydata powinien być udzielony natychmiast, a rozmowy o członkowstwie rozpoczęte niezwłocznie po tym. Ukraina ma mieć też dostęp do środków z UE na odbudowę. To się Ukrainie należy.
🇵🇱🇺🇦🇪🇺— Andrzej Duda (@AndrzejDuda) February 26, 2022
2.15pm: Ukraine has denied suggestions it was refusing to negotiate a ceasefire with Russia but said it was also not ready to accept ultimatums or unacceptable conditions. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the office of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine has prepared a negotiating position but was faced with impractical negotiating conditions from Russia.
"It was yesterday that the aggressive actions of the armed forces of the Russian Federation escalated, up to evening and night mass air and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities," he said in a message. "We consider such actions only an attempt to break Ukraine and force it to accept categorically unacceptable conditions."
1.40pm: Belgium will deploy 300 troops in Romania as part of Nato efforts to strengthen its eastern flank, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. It will also support the Ukrainian forces with 2,000 machine guns and 3,800 tons of fuel, he said.
1.15pm: Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate said on Saturday they stood with people of Ukraine following the invasion by Russia, in a rare public comment for British royals on political issues.
In October 2020 we had the privilege to meet President Zelenskyy and the First Lady to learn of their hope and optimism for Ukraine’s future.
Today we stand with the President and all of Ukraine’s people as they bravely fight for that future 🇺🇦 W & C— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 26, 2022
1.00pm: All sanctions against Russia should be on the table, including shutting the Nord Stream pipelines and halting Russia's access to SWIFT, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said ahead of a meeting on Saturday with German Chancellor Olaf Sholz. "I came to Berlin to shake the conscience of Germany so that they would finally decide on truly harsh sanctions that will influence the Kremlin's decisions," he said.
12.50pm: Russian troops started advancing into Ukraine again on Saturday after Russian president Vladimir Putin paused the offensive a day earlier in anticipation of talks with Kyiv that never happened, the Kremlin said. Spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov also told a briefing Russia had expected the sanctions imposed by the West in response to the invasion and was taking measures to minimise their impact on the economy.
12.30pm: French officials say a cargo ship sailing under the Russian flag has been intercepted, in what is thought to be the first to be stopped under new sanctions imposed on Moscow. The cargo vessel transporting cars, which was headed for St Petersburg, is "strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions."
12.10pm: The mayor of Kyiv has extended a curfew in the Ukrainian capital, which is under heavy Russian attack for a third day. The prolonged curfew will last from 5pm until 8am every day to ensure the more effective defence of the city and the safety of its people, mayor Vitaly Klitschko wrote on Twitter, as gunfire, explosions and sirens resounded around the capital.
We defend our city! They try to destroy Kyiv and our countr! We must endure!Glory to Ukraine!
— Віталій Кличко (@Vitaliy_Klychko) February 26, 2022
11.55am: Russia has banned airlines from Bulgaria, Poland and Czech Republic from flying to and over its territory in response to similar moves by those countries, the Russian civil aviation authority said on Saturday. Earlier this week, Russia banned all British airlines from its airspace in retaliation for London's ban on flights to Britain by Russian flag carrier Aeroflot.
11.45am: Poland will not play its soccer World Cup qualifier against Russia next month following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the president of Poland's Football Association, Cezary Kulesza, and players including captain Robert Lewandowski said on Saturday.
11.30am: Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday, saying Greece had favoured the harshest European Union sanctions against Russia after its attack and stood ready to provide assistance. Greece's health ministry is sending medicines and medical supplies to Ukraine, Mitsotakis' office said.
11.10am: The bulk of Russian forces involved in the advance on Ukraine's capital Kyiv are now 30 km (19 miles) from the city centre, Britain's defence ministry said. It said the Ukrainian military was continuing to put up staunch resistance across the country.
We can confirm the latest developments in Ukraine: pic.twitter.com/HOW8dM5m0b
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 26, 2022
11.00am: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the capital Kyiv was still under Ukrainian control after Russia launched an invasion on Thursday. "We have withstood and are successfully repelling enemy attacks. The fighting goes on," he said in a video message posted on his social media. "We already have almost full support from EU countries for disconnecting Russia from SWIFT. I hope that Germany and Hungary will have the courage to support this decision."
10.50am: Russia doesn't really need diplomatic ties with the West after it imposed sanctions on Moscow, former president and top security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday. Writing on social media, he said it was time to "padlock the embassies" and Moscow would continue its operation in Ukraine until it achieved goals defined by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
10.30am: Internet connectivity in Ukraine has been badly affected by the Russian invasion, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the country where fighting has been heaviest, internet blockage observatory NetBlocks said. "While there is no nation-scale blackout, little is being heard from the worst affected regions, and for others there's an ever-present fear that connectivity could worsen at any moment, cutting off friends and family," Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, said.
10.00am: Around 100,000 people have crossed into Poland from Ukraine since Russia launched an invasion on Thursday, including 9,000 who have entered since 7am on Saturday, Poland's Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker told a news conference. Poland has seen a throng of refugees at its borders since the Russian invasion began.
9.45am: Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian attack in the Lviv region near Brody in western Ukraine, Lviv's mayor was quoted as saying by the Telegram messaging service. "Russians landed three helicopters near Brody at 0900 a.m.. About 60 people," mayor Andrey Sadovyi said. "The (Ukrainian) armed forces are repelling the occupier! We are keeping the situation under control," he added.
9.25am: Russia's communications regulator accused 10 local media outlets on Saturday of falsely depicting what Russia calls a special military operation in Ukraine. Among those sent warning letters was Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the government whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded a Nobel Peace prize last year. Roskomnadzor, the regulator, ordered the media to delete the offending information or face restricted access to their websites and media resources.
9.10am: Dozens of people were wounded in overnight fighting in Kyiv, city mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Saturday morning. As of 6am local time (4am Irish time), 35 people, including two children, had been wounded, he said. It is unclear whether he was referring only to civilians. Mr Klitschko added there was currently no major Russian military presence in Kyiv, although he said saboteur groups were active.
8.50am: A missile that struck a residential building in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv earlier on Saturday killed no one, an adviser to the interior minister said. Anton Herashchenko also said Russia was lying about not shelling civilian infrastructure, with at least 40 such sites hit.
8.45am: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday it was "a crucial moment" to decide on Ukraine's membership of the European Union, as Russia continued to invade its neighbour.
It is a crucial moment to close the long-standing discussion once and for all and decide on Ukraine's membership in the #EU. Discussed with @eucopresident further effective assistance and the heroic struggle of Ukrainians for their free future.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2022
Russian forces captured the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol on Saturday, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, as Moscow launched coordinated cruise missile and artillery strikes on several cities, including the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials were not immediately available for comment on the fate of Melitopol, a city of about 150,000 people. If the Interfax report is confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre the Russians have seized since their invasion.
Russian troops continued to storm toward Ukraine’s capital early on Saturday as explosions reverberated through the city. In a chilling statement issued several hours earlier, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “This is the night they will storm”.
Kyiv officials have warned residents that street fighting is under way against Russian forces, advising them to remain in shelters, to avoid going near windows or on balconies and to take precautions against being hit by debris or bullets.
Mr Zelenskiy has refused American help to evacuate, saying: “The fight is here.” In a video released earlier on Friday of himself and his senior aides outside the presidential office in Kyiv, he had reassured Ukrainians that he and other top officials would stay in the capital.
He later appealed for cease-fire and warned in a bleak statement that multiple cities were under attack. “This night we have to stand firm,” he said. “The fate of Ukraine is being decided right now.”
Putin appeal
After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded from the north, east and south, an attack that threatens to upend Europe's post-Cold War order.
Putin said he had to eliminate what he called a serious threat to his country from its smaller neighbour and he cited the need to "denazify" Ukraine's leadership, accusing it of genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss the accusations as baseless propaganda.
In a televised meeting with Russia's Security Council on Friday, Putin appealed to Ukraine's military to overthrow their "neo-Nazi" leaders.
"Take power into your own hands," he said.
Western countries have announced a barrage of sanctions on Russia, including blacklisting its banks and banning technology exports. But they have stopped short of forcing it out of the SWIFT system for international bank payments.
At the United Nations, Russia vetoed a draft Security Council resolution deploring its invasion, while China abstained, which Western countries took as proof of Russia's isolation. The United Arab Emirates and India also abstained while the remaining 11 members voted in favour.
The White House asked Congress for $6.4 billion (€5.7 billion) in security and humanitarian aid for the crisis, officials said, and Mr Biden instructed the US State Department to release $350 million in military aid.
Overnight strikes
Russia's defence ministry said their forces used air- and ship-based cruise missiles to carry out overnight strikes on military targets in Ukraine, Interfax said.
It said Russian troops had hit hundreds of military infrastructure targets and destroyed several aircraft and dozens of tanks and armoured and artillery vehicles.
Ukraine's air force command earlier said one of its fighters had shot down a Russian transport plane. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the president's office, said the situation in Kyiv and its outskirts was under control.
"There are cases of sabotage and reconnaissance groups working in the city, police and self-defence forces are working efficiently against them," Mr Podolyak said.
Ukrainian authorities have urged citizens to help defend Kyiv from the advancing Russians. Some families took cover in shelters and hundreds of thousands have left their homes to find safety, according to a UN aid official.
Ukraine said more than 1,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia did not release casualty figures. Mr Zelenskiy said late on Thursday that 137 soldiers and civilians been killed with hundreds wounded.
Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence at the fall of the Soviet Union and Kyiv hopes to join Nato and the EU - aspirations that infuriate Moscow.
Putin says Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, is an illegitimate state carved out of Russia, a view Ukrainians see as aimed at erasing their more than thousand-year history.
'Ready to talk'
The United States imposed sanctions on Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The European Union and Britain earlier froze any assets Putin and Lavrov held in their territory. Canada took similar steps.
But even as the fighting grew more intense, the Russian and Ukrainian governments signalled an openness to negotiations, offering the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since Putin launched the invasion.
A spokesman for Mr Zelenskiy said Ukraine and Russia would consult in coming hours on a time and place for talks.
The Kremlin said earlier it offered to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk after Ukraine expressed a willingness to discuss declaring itself a neutral country, while Ukraine had proposed Warsaw as the venue. That, according to Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov, resulted in a "pause" in contacts.
"Ukraine was and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace," Zelenskiy spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said in a Facebook post. "We agreed to the proposal of the president of the Russian Federation."
But US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Russia's offer was an attempt to conduct diplomacy "at the barrel of a gun" and Putin's military must stop bombing Ukraine if it was serious about negotiations.
