- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia wants to capture other countries on Friday.
- The comment responded to a Russian military leader hinting at Russian expansion into Moldova.
- The Russian major general said control of southern Ukraine would give Moscow access to Transnistria in Moldova.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia wants to occupy other countries, suggesting that the invasion of Ukraine may be the start of a campaign of Russian expansion.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine is intended only as a beginning," Zelenskyy said in a video address on Friday night. "Then they want to capture other countries."
Zelenskyy, in the video address, asked that nations not remain neutral in the conflict because they could be putting themselves in jeopardy.
"All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us," he said. "They must help us because we are the first in line. And who is to come next?"
The comments followed reports that one of the Kremlin's leading military figures raised the prospect of Russian expansion into Ukraine's neighbor Moldova.
Maj. Gen. Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia's Central Military District, was quoted in state media as saying that Russia seeks total control over the south of Ukraine and the Donbas.
Minnekayev said it would give Russia access to a Russian-backed separatist region of Moldova, say reports.
"Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population," said Minnekayev on Friday at a meeting with the Union of Defense Industries, Russian media reported, per BBC News.
Transnistria is next to Ukraine's western border. It's a breakaway state that is internationally recognized, even by Russia, as part of Moldova. Russian troops have been based there as "peacekeepers" since 1992.
Moldova summoned Moscow's ambassadors over the comments, BBC News reported, with the foreign ministry describing them as "deeply concerning."
Moldova's government said in a statement on Friday that Minnekayev's claim that the Russian-speaking population of Transnistria is facing oppression is "not only unacceptable but also unfounded."
Russian President Vladimir Putin made similar claims about the alleged oppression of Russian speakers in Ukraine prior to the invasion on February 24.