This story has been updated with additional developments. The Kremlin is not happy about US President Biden calling his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a war criminal for the first time Wednesday. Those comments were "unacceptable and unforgivable rhetoric," a Kremlin spokesperson said, per the Guardian. Putin also went on TV to rail against Russians who don't support the Ukraine invasion, the AP reports. Russians "will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths,” he said. “I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country."
Accusing the West of using a "fifth column" of Russian traitors to create civil unrest, he said, "There is only one goal, I have already spoken about it—the destruction of Russia." Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said early Thursday that continuous Russian shelling made it impossible for evacuation corridors to work the day prior. "We are ready to take people out and send humanitarian aid. But we can't expose people to shelling on the road," he said, per CNN. He says the Russian military fired on Mariupol residents fleeing the city, killing two children and three adults. But Russia-Ukraine talks, which continued Wednesday, appeared to be making some progress, according to reports. (More of the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war here.)
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