Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday sought India's help in the implementation of a peace formula with Russia.
"I had a phone call with PM Modi & wished him a successful G20 presidency. It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula and now I count on India's participation in its implementation. I also thanked for humanitarian aid and support in the UN," tweeted the Ukrainian President. In October, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv will not conduct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Reacting to the referendum in four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine -- Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Zelenskyy noted that all the aggressor's decisions aimed at attempting illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories are null and void and do not change reality.
Zelenskyy emphasised that under such conditions, Ukraine will not conduct any negotiations with the current President of the Russian Federation, and noted that our state has always been committed to a peaceful settlement through dialogue, said a Zelenskyy readout.
"However, Russia did not stand for dialogue and put forward an ultimatum instead, deliberately undermining this process. During my speech at the session of the UN General Assembly, I outlined our clear formula for peace. We are ready to work together with our partners to achieve it," added the President of Ukraine.
Earlier on Monday, Ukraine called for Russia to be removed from the United Nations, where Moscow can veto any resolution as a permanent member of the Security Council.
"Ukraine calls on the member states of the UN... to deprive the Russian Federation of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to exclude it from the UN as a whole," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The statement said Russia "illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council", since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Meanwhile, three Russian servicemen were killed on Monday after a Ukrainian drone was shot down by air defenses as it approached a military airfield in Saratov Oblast, deep inside Russian territory, according to Russian state news agencies, citing the defense ministry.
The incident took place in the western port city of Engels, some 500 miles (more than 800 kilometers) southeast of Moscow, located on the Volga River. It is the second such attempted attack on the city, which houses the Engels-2 military airfield, a strategic bomber airbase, this month, reported CNN.
Earlier this month, CCTV footage appeared to show an explosion lighting up the sky in Engels. At the time, Gov. Busargin also reassured residents that no civilian infrastructure was damaged and that "information about incidents at military facilities is being checked by law enforcement agencies."
He had acknowledged that word about "a loud bang and a burst in Engels in the early morning" was spreading on social networks and the media.
The Engels-2 airfield is nearly 6 kilometers from where the CCTV footage was recorded early December.
Meanwhile, investigative journalist Christo Grozev has been put on Russia's wanted list, according to the website of the Interior Ministry of Russia.
The Interior Ministry's website says Grozev, who is a Bulgarian, is wanted under an article of the Criminal Code, without specifying which article, reported CNN.
According to Russia's monitoring group OVD-Info, a criminal case on disseminating 'fake news' about the Russian army has been opened against Grozev.
Grozev is the lead Russia investigator for the investigative group Bellingcat focusing on "security threats, extraterritorial clandestine operations, and the weaponization of information", according to Bellingcat's website.
(PTI)
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