Zelenskyy: Russia does not pay attention to ceasefire deadline, at least for now

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the occupiers are currently ignoring the August 8 ceasefire deadline. The head of state said this in the evening address.

"We continue to actively negotiate with our partners to find a common position for the sake of a lasting peace for Ukraine. A truly real peace. And if everyone perceives opportunities and threats in the same way, then it will be possible to achieve sustainable peace. There is already a lot of support, and this is support in the new conditions, when the deadline for Russia to cease fire has been announced. We see that the Russians do not pay attention to this, at least not yet," Zelenskyy said.

He noted that the invaders continued to kill Ukrainians and shell them: Russia attacked Ukraine at night more than a hundred drones, and during the day, it bombed with air strikes, conducted intensive assaults at the front, and again announced air raids in cities.

"I will cite just one of the Russian war crimes of today.  In Kherson, a 13-year-old boy was deliberately wounded by a Russian drone strike. He is being assisted. That is, the Russian hunt for civilians in Kherson continues, and this is a deliberate destruction of life. The Russian army has not been ordered to stop," the Ukrainian leader said.

The head of state also said that security advisers of Ukraine and partners continued to operate on August 8: officials of foreign leaders are coordinated by the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, and meanwhile, the minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha works with colleagues in Europe.

According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine is in constant communication with the United States, and its partners are also talking to Washington.

"Everyone is united by the realization that it is possible to achieve at least a ceasefire, and everything depends on the right pressure on Russia. It is there that a decision must be made that this war, which they started, must also be ended," the president noted.

He noted that despite the fact that the Russians do not reckon with their losses and block information about them, "they cannot block the objective reality – that what the Russian economy is experiencing, the way Russian enterprises are shutting down, the way Russian logistics is suffering losses."

"Sanctions can work exactly as we need them to. Today I want to thank everyone in the world who is helping us to end the war. Today, I have also approved several new sanctions packages, including Ukraine's, and we will soon have appropriate decisions," the president added.

• On August 7, US president Trump, when asked whether his ultimatum to dictator Putin remained in force, said that "It's up to him". The US president stated that if there is no ceasefire by August 8, secondary duties will be imposed on buyers of Russian resources. Even before this deadline, he raised the following tariffs for India.
• On August 8, president Zelenskyy held talks with world leaders, including receiving details of his conversation with the Russian side from his South African counterpart Ramaphosa. The South African president stated that the politician's recent call with Putin was at the request of the dictator.
• Sky News quoted an unnamed senior White House official as saying that the meeting between Trump and Putin tentatively scheduled for the end of next week.