Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow's advance in Ukraine is going "according to plan" and ordered large compensations for Russian soldiers killed in the invasion.
"I want to say that the special military operation is going strictly according to schedule, according to plan," he said, opening a meeting with his security council. "We are at war with neo-Nazis," the Russian leader said, adding: "I will never give up on my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people."
Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the West on Thursday to increase military aid to Ukraine, saying Russia would advance on the rest of Europe otherwise.
"If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes!" Zelensky told a press conference. "If we are no more then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next," he said, adding: "Believe me."
He called for direct talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying it was "the only way to stop this war."
"We are not attacking Russia and we do not plan to attack it. What do you want from us? Leave our land," he said, addressing Putin.
"Sit down with me. Just not 30 metres away like with (French President Emmanuel Macron)," the Ukrainian leader said, referring to Putin receiving world leaders at a now famous enormously long table.
