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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the pressure on Moscow must increase and called for “decisive steps” against Russia’s nuclear industry in addition to more pressure through sanctions on the Russian military and banking sectors.

Zelenskiy noted on Twitter on February 25 that the European Union the day before approved a 10th package of sanctions against Russian industry that is supporting the military and against propaganda, but he called for more.

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“The pressure on the Russian aggressor must increase: We expect decisive steps against [Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm] Rosatom & Russian nuclear industry, more pressure on military & banking,” he said.

Ukraine’s diplomats are working to extend global and European sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry and on all entities involved in the missile program and Russia’s “nuclear blackmail,” Zelenskiy said later in his evening address.

The United States and Britain already are taking corresponding steps, he said, adding that Ukraine expects “appropriate steps from the European Union as well.”

The EU sanctions package, announced on the one-year anniversary of the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, aims to make it more difficult for Russia to obtain parts for aircraft engines, antennae, and other electronics. The United States also announced new sanctions on dozens of Russian banks, companies, and individuals on the first anniversary of the invasion.

Zelenskiy said earlier that he plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the country’s cease-fire proposal aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, saying such a meeting would be “important for world security.”

China’s 12-point paper calling for a “political settlement” does not call on Russia to leave Ukraine. The proposal has been met with skepticism from Ukraine’s allies.

Zelenskiy told journalists on February 24 that China talking about Ukraine “is not bad. But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to.”

There was no immediate reaction from Chinse authorities.

Speaking on February 25, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Beijing to “help us pressure Russia” to end the war in Ukraine.

Macron who said he would visit China in early April, added that peace was only possible if “the Russian aggression was halted, troops withdrawn and territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and its people was respected.”

Separately, U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview that the idea that China would play the role of peacemaker in Ukraine is not “rational.”

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s applauding it, so how could it be any good?” Biden told ABC News on February 24. “I’ve seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia, if the Chinese plan were followed,” he added.

Biden also ruled out delivering F-16 jet fighters to Ukraine for now, saying Zelenskiy did not need them.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in its evening report on February 25 that Russian forces made several unsuccessful attempts on Ukrainian forces in the Bahkmut direction.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, co-founder and owner of the Wagner mercenary group, claimed that his fighters had taken over the village of Yahidne on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk region that has been the focus of fighting in recent months.

The Ukrainian military said Russian forces continued attempts to break through Ukrainian defenses, encircle, and seize the city.

The Ukrainian General Staff said earlier on February 25 that the military had to repel 70 attacks by the Russian Army in the direction of the cities of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, and Avdiyivka in the east.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of the southern Kherson region, reported 83 Russian shelling attacks, according to AP.

The regional capital, also called Kherson, was hit nine times, and residential buildings, a preschool, and a medical institution were struck, he said.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office reported three civilian wounded in the region.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, AP, ABC News, and AFP