Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that he plans to take 'all of Ukraine' and that the 'worst is yet to come.'
Putin made the comments during a phone call with President Emmanuel Macron of France, the French said.
The previous day, Mr Macron said he would continue to lobby Mr Putin for a ceasefire, while denouncing 'the lies' spread by the Russian government to justify a war in Ukraine, while saying he would continue to lobby Mr Putin for a ceasefire.
Following their phone call on Thursday, which lasted an hour and a half, Mr Macron said: 'The worst is yet to come.'
An Elysee Palace spokesman explained: "President Putin expressed his very great determination to continue the offensive, the aim of which is to take control of the whole country.
"President Putin said the Russian Army operation was developing 'according to the plan’ and that it would ‘get worse if the Ukrainians do not accept surrender terms’."
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While also speaking to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Macron blamed the hostilities on Mr Putin, reports the Mirror.
He said: "This war is not a conflict between the West and Russia, as some would like us to believe. There is no NATO base in Ukraine. These are lies. Russia is not aggressed; it is the aggressor."
In turn, Mr Putin said his forces were conducting a ‘special military operation’ aimed at disarming Ukraine and capturing the ‘neo-Nazis’ running the country. It comes as at least 22 civilians have been killed in a Russian airstrike on the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are battling Russian troops for control of Enerhodar, which has Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Civilians are also trapped in Mariupol as Kremlin forces bombard the port city.
On Thursday morning it emerged the first major city in Ukraine has been captured by Russian forces after days of fierce fighting. Residents have reported that there are Russians all over the city and that a curfew is now in place.
They have been told not to turn their lights on in the evening amid a shortage of food and medicine.
Troops have seized the key port city of Kherson in the south of the country, the mayor said. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Russia would pay for the damage caused.
He said: "We will restore every house, every street, every city and we say to Russia: learn the word of reparations and contributions. You will reimburse us for everything you did against our state, against every Ukrainian in full."
