President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky said that the “end of the world has arrived” during a news conference on 3 March in the city of Kyiv.

He notes that it was very difficult for a no-fly zone to be set up in Ukrainian airspace and appeals for more planes from the western powers.

He also shared his confidence in his military against the Russian invaders but highlighted that he wants nothing more than peace.

He also added that he doesn’t want Ukraine’s history to be a “legend about 300 Spartans”, emphasizing his desire for peace.

Zelensky told reporters:

“It’s not about I want to talk with Putin, I think I have to talk with Putin. The world has to talk with Putin because there are no other ways to stop this war.”

“I don’t want Ukraine’s history to be a legend about 300 Spartans. I want peace.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses his country in the face of the Russian invasion. pic.twitter.com/fXZu6igpsr

— CNN (@CNN) March 3, 2022

He then called out Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying:

“Good Lord, what do you want? Leave our land.

If you don’t want to leave now, sit down with me at the negotiating table. But not from 30 meters away, like with Macron and Scholz.

Sit down with me and talk. What are you afraid of? We’re no threat to anyone.”

Zelensky to Putin: "Good Lord, what do you want? Leave our land. If you don't want to leave now, sit down with me at the negotiating table. But not from 30 meters away, like with Macron and Scholz. Sit down with me and talk. What are you afraid of? We're no threat to anyone." pic.twitter.com/CNsLj2yQ1N

— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 3, 2022

President of France, Emmanuel Macron, spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin via a phone call, warning him that his invasion of Ukraine was a big mistake.

Putin then said in his 90-minute conversation with Macron that he was prepared to go “all the way”, with the French President warning that “the worst is yet to come”.

Putin wants whole of Ukraine

An aide to the French president said:

“The expectation of the president is that the worst is to come, given what President Putin told him. There was nothing in what President Putin told us that should reassure us. He showed great determination to continue the operation.”

He added that Putin “wanted to seize control of the whole of Ukraine. He will, in his own words, carry out his operation to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine to the end. You can understand the extent to which these words are shocking and unacceptable and the president told him that it was lies.”

President Macron appealed to Putin to allowed humanitarian aid to the civilians and to avoid further civilian casualties, with Putin replying that he was in favor of that but stopped short of making commitments.

Growing desperation

Mick Ryan, a retired Major General of the Australian army, said that he believes that the horrors of the war so far are just the tip of the iceberg.

He said:

“We’ll see an escalation in violence as the Russians prosecute this Battle of the Cities.

We have seen their growing desperation for tactical success through their use of artillery, rockets and possibly thermobaric weapons in & around civilian areas in the past 24 hours.”

16/25 We'll see an escalation in violence as the Russians prosecute this Battle of the Cities. We have seen their growing desperation for tactical success through their use of artillery, rockets and possibly thermobaric weapons in & around civilian areas in the past 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/KcWHYAnzws

— Major General (just retired!) Mick Ryan (@WarintheFuture) March 3, 2022

Second round of negotiations wtih Russia

According to CNN, a second round of peace talks is underway, with a Russian delegation meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Belarus.

A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said that they are seeking a ceasefire immediately to allow civliiains to leave the frontlines via humanitarian corridors, according to The Guardian.

A 30-year-old Ukrainian policeman, Oleg Fedko, was on patrol duties in Ukraine when his entire family was shot dead by Russian troops who entered the city of Kherson.

His family of five included his 27-year-old wife, his 6-year-old daughter, his baby son, and his parents in their 50s.

They were feeding from Kherson in two cars when the Russian forces breached the city on 24 February.

Then Russian soldiers opened fire at the cars they were in and killed Oleg’s wife and children.

Oleg’s brother, Denis Fedko, was on the phone with their mother in her last moments as he heard her screaming and the baby crying in the midst of gunshots, according to zaxid.net.

Their bodies were unable to be retrieved by the police as the city had fallen to Russian hands.

According to The New York Times, at least 300 civilians and soldiers have died in the last week, following fierce fighting in the city.

A Russian businessman has slapped a US$1 million bounty on Russian president Vladimir Putin, while also urging the military officers of Russia to bring him to justice.

The Russian businessman, Alex Konanykhin, posted his bounty offer on social media, calling it his “moral duty to faciliaitate the denazification of Russia”.

He said:

Facebook banned my post; do you think it was a correct decision? I omit the picture as it was a “dead or alive” poster, but this is the text:

I promise to pay $1,000,000 to the officer(s) who, complying with their constitutional duty, arrest(s) Putin as a war criminal under Russian and international laws.

Putin is not the Russian president as he came to power as the result of a special operation of blowing up apartment buildings in Russia, then violated the Constitution by eliminating free elections and murdering his opponents.

As an ethnic Russian and a Russia citizen, I see it as my moral duty to facilitate the denazification of Russia.

I will continue my assistance to Ukraine in its heroic efforts to withstand the onslaught of Putin’s Orda.