Russian President Vladimir Putin told a top European Union official that his bloc should place additional pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government amid the conflict in Ukraine. “The President of Russia called on the European Union to make a real contribution to saving people’s lives, to put pressure on the Kyiv authorities and force them to respect humanitarian law,” the Kremlin said in a statement following a conversation between Putin and Charles Michel, the head of the EU’s European Council, according to state-run media. Putin blamed Ukrainian nationalist forces for “various kinds of provocations,” including “violence against civilians” while trying to evacuate civilians from certain cities over the weekend. Ukrainian officials have denied targeting civilians and have instead said Russian forces were responsible for targeting civilians during evacuation periods over the past weekend. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appeared to confirm that evacuation efforts from Mariupol had failed, blaming both sides. “Today’s …