President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on Friday accused Russia of committing war crimes in northeastern Ukraine and said it was too early to say the tide of the war was turning, despite rapid territorial gains by his troops this month, Reuters reported.

In an interview with Reuters, the Ukrainian leader said that the outcome of the war with Russia, which has been going on for the seventh month, depends on the rapid delivery of weapons from abroad to his country.

He compared the situation in the recently liberated areas of the northeast “to the bloody soap operas after Buchi”, a city near Kiev where Russian troops were accused of committing numerous war crimes in the first phase of the war. Moscow denies the accusations.

“Today there are 450 dead, buried there (in the northeastern district of Kharkiv). But there are other, separate burials of many people. Tortured people. Whole families in separate territories,” Zelenskyy said.

Asked if there is evidence of war crimes, he said: “All this is there… There is some evidence, and there are assessments, Ukrainian and international, and it is very important for us that the world recognizes this. “

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request to comment on Zelensky’s new accusations.

Russia regularly denies targeting civilians during what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, and has previously said allegations of human rights abuses are a smear campaign.

Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleg Singubov told reporters near one of the mass graves in the city of Izyum on Friday that some bodies exhumed there were found with their hands tied behind their backs.

Moscow has not commented on the mass burial in Izyum, which was a Russian stronghold before Ukraine forced its army to flee.

There will be no premature end to the war

Friday’s interview took place in the president’s office in the heavily guarded government quarter, which is now a fortress for Zelenskyi and his aides. Sandbags were piled in the windows of the dimly lit labyrinthine corridors of the building.

Shortly before the interview, an air raid siren sounded in Kyiv.

Zelenskyi, who visited Izyum on Wednesday, repeated the call to the West and other countries to intensify the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

“We would like more help from Turkey, we would like more help from South Korea. More help from the Arab world. From Asia,” he said.

Zelensky also cited “certain psychological barriers” in Germany to supplying military equipment because of its Nazi past, but said such supplies were vital for Ukraine to defend itself against what he called “Russian fascism.” He often blamed Berlin for delaying arms deliveries.

He praised Ukraine’s swift counteroffensive, but downplayed any suggestion that the war was entering some kind of finale. “It is still too early to talk about ending this war,” he said.

Zelensky said that he would support the idea of ​​resuming Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine, proposed by the UN, only if Moscow handed over prisoners of war to Kyiv.

President Vladimir Putin played down a Ukrainian counteroffensive on Friday, warning with a smile that Russia would respond more forcefully if its forces came under more pressure