Putin dials up threat against Ukraine

(CNN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a series of threats against Ukraine and Western powers Saturday, as Ukrainian officials accused Russia of shelling evacuation routes out of two battered cities.

Ukrainian authorities said thousands of civilians remained trapped in the southeastern cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha and accused Russian forces of breaching an agreement to pause fire to allow safe passage out.

Putin, meanwhile, used a meeting with Russian flight crew members at an Aeroflot training center in Moscow, to make his first expansive remarks since the invasion nine days ago.

“The current leadership needs to understand that if they continue doing what they are doing, they put under question the future of Ukrainian statehood,” Putin said. “And if that happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.”

Putin also said Western sanctions were the “equivalent of a declaration of war,” and warned he would consider countries imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine as “participants in a military conflict.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly pleaded with NATO and Western officials to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a move which could prevent Russian forces from carrying out airstrikes against their country.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that a no-fly zone is not an option being considered by the alliance.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that establishing such a zone could lead to a “full-fledged war in Europe,” but added Washington would continue to work with its allies to provide Ukrainians with the means to defend themselves from Russian aggression.

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