MOSCOW, May  5, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said
Thursday his country's army was "still ready" to allow safe passage for
civilians trapped at Mariupol's steel plant, the Kremlin said.

The Russian army had on Wednesday announced a three-day ceasefire at the
Azovstal plant in Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine, saying it would allow
civilians to leave.

But a commander of Ukraine's Azov regiment, Svyatoslav Palamar, on Thursday
accused Russia of breaking its promise.

Speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett later Thursday, Putin
said civilians could still be allowed to leave the besieged plant but Ukrainian
troops must lay down their arms.

"The Russian military is still ready to ensure the safe exit of civilians,"
Putin told the Israeli prime minister, the Kremlin said.

"As for the militants remaining at Azovstal, the Kyiv authorities must give
them an order to lay down their arms."

Putin and Bennett spoke amid raging tensions after Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, speaking about Ukraine, suggested that Adolf Hitler had "Jewish
blood".

The two leaders discussed "historic memory", the Holocaust and expressed
interest in developing ties between their two countries, the Kremlin said.

"Mutual interest was expressed in the further development of friendly
Russian-Israeli relations and the maintenance of useful contacts between the
leadership of the two countries," the Kremlin said.

Putin stressed that of the six million Jews who were killed during the
Holocaust "40 percent were citizens of the USSR."

Bennett for his part "noted the decisive contribution of the Red Army to
victory over Nazism," the Kremlin said.

Since Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, Israel has sought to
keep a delicate balance between Moscow and Kyiv but remarks by Lavrov caused an
uproar in the country.

In an interview to Italy's Mediaset released last Sunday, Russia's top
diplomat said: "I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood".

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned Lavrov's remarks as "a
terrible historical error."