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Amid Russia's plan to transfer their troops from Armenia to support offensive against Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video on Saturday, saying that he wants a serious conversation with Moscow as "the time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine".
"I want everyone to hear me now, especially (those) in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting; it is time to talk," Zelenskyy was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. Zelenskyy also accused Moscow in the video of blocking the humanitarian assistance in the war-torn cities of Ukraine, stating that "this is a deliberate tactic..". Al Jazeera further quoted Zelenskyy saying that "Russia will have to answer for it (the blocking of humanitarian assistance..." Meanwhile, Ukrainian armed forces said that Russia will be transferring their troops from Armenia, according to the Ukraine media outlet, The Kyiv independent. Russia planned to deploy their troops from the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia to support its offensive against Ukraine, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. Earlier on Friday Zelenskyy spoke to European Council President Charles Michel and discussed further strengthening of support to the war-torn country and also the membership of the European Union (EU) for Ukraine "Discussed with President of the Council Charles Michel @eucopresident further support to (Ukraine) in countering (Russian) aggression, strengthening the anti-war coalition, prospects for restoring peace in (Ukraine). Special attention was paid to our movement towards membership in the #EU," Zelenskyy said in a tweet. On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and discussed the issue of the growing number of civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict while talking about the efforts to bring an end to the war. The developments came amidst the scheduled visit of US President Joe Biden to Brussels on March 24 to attend an extraordinary NATO summit as well as participate in a European Council Summit. On February 24, Russia began a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics requested help in defending themselves. Russia has been facing immense pressure from the international community to stop its military operations in Ukraine which has created an immense humanitarian crisis with thousands of refugees from Ukraine fleeing to the neighbouring countries to the West. (ANI)
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