Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday warned of a renewed and intensified Russian offensive in the east of the war-torn country, but vowed defend the region against invaders.

Speaking in his nightly video address posted on social media, the 44-year-old said, “Russian soldiers are preparing for an offensive in the east of our country in the near future. They literally want to finish off and destroy the Donbas.”

Also read | ‘May there be peace for war-torn Ukraine,’ Pope Francis prays on Easter

“Just as the Russian military is destroying Mariupol, they want to destroy other cities and other communities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Zelensky said about Ukraine’s under-siege city and the two regions where Russia-backed rebels proclaimed independence from Ukraine days prior to the beginning of the invasion on February 24.

“We are doing everything to ensure the defense,” the Ukrainian president assured.

Also read | ‘Not one big city in Ukraine has fallen,’ claims Ukraine PM Denys Shmyhal

Earlier on Sunday, in a CNN interview, Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to visit Ukraine to witness the devastation first hand.

The 44-year-old also invited French President Emmanuel Macron to Ukraine so that he could witness first hand the “genocide” that he denied.

Also read | Ukraine’s Zelensky voices doubts about world leaders, security assurances, international law

Emerging reports and accounts of Russian atrocities in Ukraine has pushed the Ukrainian president into believing that Russian forces are capable of similar feats in other areas of the country.

Since Russia’s withdrawal from several other regions in the country, Zelensky has repeatedly warned of a renewed offensive in the breakaway Donbas region of the country, which Russia is reportedly looking to capture to achieve some sort of a victory before May 9, the day Russia celebrates the USSR’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.