Volodymyr Zelensky

"The Russian army must withdraw from the territory of the nuclear power plant and all neighboring areas, and take away its military equipment from the plant," Zelensky said on Telegram. "This must happen without any conditions and as soon as possible." Zelensky said that Ukrainian diplomats, scientists and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were working on sending an IAEA mission to the embattled power plant.

"Crimea is Ukrainian, and we will never give it up," dpa news agency quoted the President as saying in his nightly video address on Tuesday. "The Black Sea region cannot be safe as long as Crimea is occupied," he said. "There will be no stable and lasting peace in many countries on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea as long as Russia is able to use our peninsula as its military base. "This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea, with its liberation," Zelensky added.

"In the past week, the Ukrainian army had achieved powerful results in destroying the logistics of the Russian army," Zelensky said in his Saturday night video address, dpa news agency reported. "Every strike on the enemy's ammunition depots, on their command posts, on accumulations of Russian equipment saves the lives of all of us, the lives of Ukrainian military and civilians," Zelensky added.

Under Friday's deal signed in Istanbul, Russia agreed not to target Ukrainian ports while grain shipments were in transit, the BBC reported. But just hours after the agreement was signed, two Kalibr missiles hit the Odesa port, according to the Ukrainian military's southern command centre.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the President said that at the height of the hostilities in May and June, Ukraine was losing 100-200 servicemen per day, but now that number has dropped to 30, with about 250 injured per day, reports Ukrayinska Pravda. "I can tell you for sure, because I live with this every day," he asserted. Zelensky however, refused to reveal Ukraine's total military losses since the war started on February 24, but said they were several times lower than Russia's.

Ukrainian President Zelensky published several photos of Ukrainian forces, and posted, "This is a war in Ukraine that Russia started, that Russia continues and that Russia does not want to end. Ukraine defends its own land, its sovereignty, its territory. Ukraine is fighting for peace." He added that this is a cruel paradox of the 21st century, and it is a reality for Ukrainians, Ukrinform reported.

"There are no such words in normal human language that can describe the condition to which the Russian state has degraded. It is a double crime - to destroy pedagogical universities so that there won't be educational institutions and new educators cannot be trained... But let the terrorists not hope that it will give them anything," Ukrainska Pravda quoted President Zelenskyy as saying.

According to the presidential press service, the President on Wednesday said that Ukraine is making significant efforts to restore the supplies of food to the global market. "The Ukrainian delegation informed me that there is some progress. We will agree on the details with the UN secretary-general in the coming days," Zelensky was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

"We do not refuse peace negotiations, but those who refuse should know that the more time they waste, the more difficult it will be for them to negotiate with us," Xinhua news agency quoted Putin as saying during a meeting with State Duma leaders and party faction heads.

The BBC reported that the Ukrainian President asked the G7 leaders reconstruction aid, anti-aircraft defence systems, help on grain exports and security guarantees. He also asked to "intensify sanctions" on Russia. A day before his address, Zelenksy said in his address to the nation that delaying arms deliveries to Ukraine was "an invitation to Russia to strike again and again", reports the BBC.