Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been speaking to people in Ukraine and around the world every night, and he used his most recent nightly appeal to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin, to try to compel the Russian leader to hold talks with him directly, as the war continues for a fourth week.

Negotiators for the two sides met for a fifth straight day to discuss terms for a ceasefire. A Russian official is claiming that they have moved closer to agreement on several issues, including Ukraine dropping its bid to join NATO.

Meanshile, even as Russia faces some apparent heavier-than-expected losses on the battlefield, Putin told a huge rally in the Russian capital of Moscow that the invasion into Ukraine is valid, paraphrasing parts of the Bible.

Putin told the crowd of more than 200-thousand people, that his actions were necessary to prevent “genocide,” and called some Ukranians neo-Nazis.