ANKARA

Ukraine's president on Thursday reiterated his call for the isolation of Russia internationally amid the ongoing war.

Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “You need to isolate diplomatically the Russian Federation as much as possible so that the Russian people would know that they're paying a high price for this aggression, so that the society would start exerting pressure upon its leaders, political and military leaders.”

He said Russia should be recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism “in order to create a system of international justice.”

On the issue of Red Cross access to prisoners of war, Zelenskyy said: “We, Ukrainians, cannot fight to make the International Red Cross to find this possibility. It's the Red Cross (that) should fight for it because it's their job, because they're paid for it, because all of the world's watching them, they have to exert pressure on Russia to get there.”

He thanked the UN, Türkiye, and other countries for their help in securing the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia.

Zelenskyy also said that diplomacy is the most powerful tool “when weapons are not talking.”

“Diplomacy with Russia, we cannot have it today. We cannot have the kind of diplomacy we used to have before because there is no respect of the leaders who are killing or not respecting international law.”

On international military help, Zelesnkyy said he is grateful to Germany for sending air defense systems and anti-missile systems although they are not enough to protect Ukrainian skies.

“But that's already a start. That we're there opening up this possibility that in the future Germany will be able to give us more support and other countries that produce air defense and anti-missile systems can help us protect our skies,” he said.

Moscow has targeted several Ukrainian cities in airstrikes following the Oct. 8 blast on a Russian bridge to Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014, drawing widespread international condemnation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Kyiv for what he called a “terrorist attack” on the Kerch Bridge.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said 14 more civilians were killed in fresh Russian attacks in various parts of the country.

Civilian casualties of the ongoing war, now in its eighth month, are nearing 16,000, including more than 6,220 killed and over 9,370 injured, according to UN figures released this week.