Zelensky is asking NATO for planes, he wants a direct meeting with Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a press conference at which he appealed to the West to send him warplanes.

“If you don’t have the power to close the sky [impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine], then give me planes,” he said.

“If we are no more then, God forbid, the next will be Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia,” he said.

These Baltic countries are part of the NATO alliance, which means that if Russia invaded one, it would be at war with all members.

Zelensky also said that direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were “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 country,” he said.

“Sit with me [Putin]. Just not 30 meters away like with [French President Emmanuel Macron],” he added, referring to talks between the French and Russian presidents at a long table in Moscow last month.

Seven days after Russia invaded Ukraine, a million people have fled, and attacks are intensifying on key cities – even though only one big city has fallen.