Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Israel was undertaking many efforts to arrange top-level peace talks between his country and Russia and suggested they might take place in Jerusalem, but questioned the Jewish state's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defense system to Ukraine.
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"Everybody knows that your missile defense systems are the best ... and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews," said Zelenskyy, who is of Jewish heritage.
Zelenskyy, speaking in his daily video appeal to Ukrainians after addressing Israel's parliament by video link, said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had been trying to act as an intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.
"Of course, Israel has its interests, strategy to protect its citizens. We understand all of it," said Zelenskyy, seated at a desk in his trademark khaki T-shirt.
"The prime minister of Israel, Mr. Bennett is trying to find a way of holding talks. And we are grateful for this. We are grateful for his efforts, so that sooner or later we will begin to have talks with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem.
"That's the right place to find peace. If possible," he said.
In the past week, Bennett has intensified his efforts to bring the two sides together and has spoken on several occasions to both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, he flew in secret to Moscow to meet the Kremlin leader.
Zelenskyy also addressed again the Russian accusation that he heads an administration that espouses "Nazism."
Switching from his usual Ukrainian to Russian in his remarks, he said: "Russian propagandists have a tough job on their hands today. For the first time, a Ukrainian president spoke to the parliament of Israel and, by video recording, to the people of Israel, a Ukrainian accused of Nazism by Moscow.
"This very fact already proves that things are not as Moscow says."
Ukraine on Monday also rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power in a humanitarian crisis that is increasing pressure on European leaders to toughen sanctions on Moscow.
Ukraine's government defiantly rejected Russian calls for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms in exchange for safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors to be opened from 10:00 Moscow time (07:00 GMT) on Monday.
"There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying.
"We have already informed the Russian side about this."
Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped as fighting rages on the streets around them.
Vereshchuk said over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, more than half from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses there on Monday for further evacuations.
Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.
The crisis in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and other devastated Ukrainian cities is likely to feature heavily in discussions between European Union leaders this week as they consider imposing tougher sanctions on Russia including an oil embargo.
EU governments will take up the discussion among foreign ministers on Monday before US President Joe Biden arrives in Brussels on Thursday for summits with NATO's 30 allies, as well as the EU and in a Group of Seven (G7) format including Japan.
Diplomats told Reuters that Baltic countries including Lithuania are pushing for an embargo as the next logical step, while Germany is warning against acting too quickly because of already high energy prices in Europe.
Mariupol's council said on Telegram that several thousand residents had been "deported" to Russia over the past week. Russian news agencies said buses had carried hundreds of refugees from Mariupol to Russia in recent days.
US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN the deportation accounts were "disturbing" and "unconscionable" if true, but said Washington had not yet confirmed them.
Reuters could not independently verify the claims. Russia denies targeting civilians.
Greece's consul general in Mariupol, the last EU diplomat to evacuate the city, said it was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars.
"What I saw, I hope no one will ever see," he said.
Capturing Mariupol would help Russian forces secure a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Post-Captain Andrei Paliy, deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was killed during fighting in the city, Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said Sunday on the messaging app Telegram.
Sevastopol, which is a major base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, is located on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Kyiv and Moscow reported some progress last week toward a political formula that would guarantee Ukraine's security, while keeping it outside NATO – a key Russian demand – though each side accused the other of dragging things out.
Putin says Russia's "special operation" is aimed at disarming Ukraine and rooting out dangerous nationalists. Western nations call it an aggressive war of choice and have imposed punishing sanctions aimed at crippling Russia's economy.
Ukraine and its Western backers say Russian ground forces have made few advances in the last week, concentrating instead on artillery and missile strikes.
Zelenskyy's adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Sunday there had been a relative lull over the past 24 hours, with "practically no rocket strikes on cities." He said front lines were "practically frozen."
Three civilians were killed and five were injured as a result of Russian shelling on Sunday in the east of the country, said Pavel Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration. In the Kharkiv region, one person was killed and one injured, and in the Luhansk region two were killed and one injured.
In the capital Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported several explosions in Podil district and said rescue teams were putting out a large fire at the shopping center. He said at least one person was killed.
The UN human rights office said at least 902 civilians had been killed as of Saturday, though the real toll was probably much higher.
About 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced, including some 3.4 million who have fled to neighboring countries such as Poland, the UN refugee agency said.
In the southern city of Kherson, dozens of protesters, some wrapped in Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flag, were seen on video chanting "Go home" in Russian at two military vehicles with Russian markings. The vehicles turned and left.
"I want the war to be over, I want them [Russian forces] to leave Ukraine in peace," said Margarita Morozova, 87, who survived Nazi Germany's siege of Leningrad in World War Two and has lived in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, for the past 60 years.
The United States, meanwhile, has informally raised with Turkey the unlikely possibility of sending its Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems to Ukraine to help it fight the invading Russian forces, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
US officials have floated the suggestion over the past month with their Turkish counterparts but no specific or formal request was made, the sources told Reuters. They said it also came up briefly during Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's visit to Turkey earlier this month.
The Biden administration has been asking allies who have been using Russian-made equipment and systems including S-300s and S-400s to consider transferring them to Ukraine as it tries to fend off a Russian invasion that began on Feb. 24.
The idea, which analysts said was sure to be shot down by Turkey, was part of a wider discussion between Sherman and Turkish officials about how the United States and its allies can do more to support Ukraine and on how to improve bilateral ties.
The Turkish authorities have not commented on any US suggestion or proposal relating to the transfer to Ukraine of Ankara's S-400 systems, which have been a point of long-standing contention between the two NATO allies.
Turkish foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
Turkish sources and analysts said any such suggestion would be a non-starter for Turkey, citing issues ranging from technical hurdles related to installing and operating the S-400s in Ukraine, to political concerns such as the blowback Ankara would likely face from Moscow.
Washington has repeatedly asked Ankara to get rid of the Russian-built surface-to-air missile batteries since the first delivery arrived in July 2019. The United States has imposed sanctions on Turkey's defense industry and removed NATO member Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program as a result.
Ankara has said it was forced to opt for the S-400s because allies did not provide weapons on satisfactory terms.
US officials are keen to seize this moment to draw Turkey back into Washington's orbit. Efforts to find "creative" ways to improve the strained relationship have accelerated in recent weeks, even though no specific proposal has so far gained traction, US and Turkish sources have said.
"I think everyone knows that the S-400 has been a long-standing issue and perhaps this is a moment when we can figure out a new way to solve this problem," Sherman told Turkish broadcaster Haberturk in an interview on March 5.
It was not clear what exactly she meant and the State Department has not answered questions about her comments. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the suggestion made during her visit to Turkey.
The effort is also part of a wider bid by the Biden administration to respond to Zelenskyy's plea to help protect Ukraine's skies. Russian or Soviet-made air defense systems such as S-300s that other NATO allies have and S-400s are sought after.
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One source familiar with US thinking said Washington's floating of the possibility came as a result of the renewed effort to improve ties at a time when Ankara has been spooked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had not received a specific heads up from Putin on his plans of a full-scale attack on Ukraine, another source familiar with the discussions said.
Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. It has said the invasion is unacceptable and voiced support for Ukraine, but has also opposed sanctions on Moscow while offering to mediate.
Ankara has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, analysts say, with which it has close energy, defense and tourism ties. But Ankara has also sold military drones to Kyiv and signed a deal to co-produce more, angering the Kremlin. Turkey also opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, as well as its 2014 annexation of Crimea.
"Turkey has managed to walk on the razor's edge and a transfer of a Russian S-400 would certainly lead to severe Russian ire," said Aaron Stein, director of research at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute. "And for Erdogan, the S-400 has become a symbol of Turkish sovereignty, so trading it away wouldn't be all roses and flowers."
