Ammon News - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday (March 19) called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow, saying Russia would otherwise need generations to recover from losses suffered during the war, Reuters reported.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine had always offered solutions for peace, and wanted meaningful and honest negotiations on peace and security without delay.

"I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. The time has come for a meeting. It is time to talk," he said in a video address released in the early hours of Saturday.

"The time has come to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover."

The two sides have been involved in talks for weeks with no sign of a breakthrough.

Mr Zelensky said Russian forces were deliberately blocking the supply of humanitarian supplies to cities under attack.

"This is a deliberate tactic... This is a war crime and they will answer for it, 100%," he said.

Mr Zelensky said there was no information about how many people had died after a theatre in the city of Mariupol, where hundreds of people had been sheltering, was struck on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

More than 130 people had been rescued so far, he said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities have also been able to rescue more than 9,000 people from the port city, which is under siege by Russian forces.

More than 180,000 Ukrainian citizens have been rescued through humanitarian corridors across the country, Mr Zelensky said.

Several rounds of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow have taken place both in person and virtually since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Feb 24.

The latest set of talks, the fourth, opened on Monday.

Russia’s top negotiator said on Friday that Moscow and Kyiv had brought their positions “as close as possible” on a proposal for Ukraine to become a neutral state.

But Mr Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Mr Zelensky taking part in the negotiations, said his country’s position had not budged.

“Negotiation status. The statements of the Russian side are only their requesting positions,” he wrote on Twitter.

“All statements are intended, inter alia, to provoke tension in the media. Our positions are unchanged - ceasefire, withdrawal of troops and strong security guarantees with concrete formulas.”

Russia has requested that its neighbour never join the Western Nato military alliance, as well as demanding its “demilitarisation” and “denazification”.