He further said that so far all in all more than 180,000 people have managed to flee the city to safety through the various humanitarian corridors.

Zelensky also accused the Russian forces are deliberately blockading Ukraine's largest cities to create a “humanitarian catastrophe” with the aim of coercing the Ukrainian people to cooperate with them.

He accused the Russians of preventing supplies from reaching the besieged cities in the center and southeast of the country.

Zelenskyy made these claims in his nighttime video address to the nation, filmed outside in Kyiv, with the presidential office in the lamplight in the background.