Ukraine’s envoy to the United States on Sunday known as on President Joe Biden’s administration to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow and to step up arms provides to Kyiv, saying Russia needs to be handled “as a terrorist state.”

Ambassador Oksana Markarova in an interview on Fox News Sunday repeated costs that Russia is committing struggle crimes by concentrating on civilians, hospitals and colleges, and mentioned Ukraine is working with the United States and different nations to accumulate proof. “This is a terrorist state and we must always deal with Russia as a terrorist state,” Markarova mentioned. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday mentioned the United States has seen “very credible reviews” of deliberate assaults on civilians.

Markarova spoke as Ukraine and Russia blamed one another for the collapse of the second try in as many days to evacuate civilians from the town of Mariupol, which has been underneath heavy Russian bombardment. Markarova renewed a plea for the United States to intensify sanctions in opposition to Russia, together with imposing a full embargo on imports of Russian oil and gasoline, and to enhance shipments of anti-aircraft methods and different weaponry to Ukraine.

“We are grateful for the sanctions which have been applied by the United States,” she mentioned. “But since Russia is just not altering their conduct, they escalated truly, they’re killing us increasingly more, the sanctions ought to toughen up.” The White House is weighing chopping imports of Russian oil and gasoline, however is cautious a few spike in gasoline costs that may gasoline decades-high inflation.

Halting Russia’s invasion is important to stopping the battle from spreading past Ukraine, Markarova mentioned. “Every massive struggle up to now began regionally,” she mentioned. “We know from the previous that each one of them may have been stopped regionally.” Ukraine, Markarova mentioned, will reply “to any peace talks.