11:40 p.m. ET, March 19, 2022
Russia sustaining “unprecedented losses,” Zelensky says
From CNN's Yulia Shevchenko and Hira Humayun
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, early Sunday, March 20, 2022.
(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said the Russian military has sustained “unprecedented losses” and that some Russian units have been "80 to 90% destroyed."
"Ukrainians have proven they can fight more professionally than an army that has been waging wars for decades in various regions and conditions. We respond with wisdom and courage to the great number of their equipment and soldiers sent to Ukraine," Zelensky said in a video message posted to social media.
He then switched from speaking Ukrainian to Russian and said in areas where heavy fighting have taken place, the front line of defense is "littered with corpses of the Russian soldiers."
"And these corpses, these dead bodies, are not being picked up by anyone. New units are being sent to advance right over them," he said.
Evacuation corridors: Zelensky said eight evacuation corridors were operating on Saturday but due to Russian shelling, authorities were unable to rescue people from Borodyanka in the Kyiv region.
Authorities were also unable to deliver humanitarian aid to the cities in the southern Kherson region.
“The Russian troops have blocked our convoy. Why? Their goal remains the same. Again, they are trying to create an image for their propaganda as if Ukraine has left its citizens without the essentials, as if Russia is constantly rescuing them from something,” Zelensky said.
CNN is unable to independently verify Zelensky's claims of significant Russian losses.