President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to the mayors of American cities asking to break twinning ties with Russian ones.

"You know that dozens of American cities maintain the so-called twinning ties with the cities of the Russian Federation. Chicago and Moscow. Jacksonville and Murmansk. San Diego - Vladivostok. Albany and Tula. What do these ties give you? Probably nothing. But they allow Russia to speak that even after the outbreak of such a war, it is not isolated," he said, speaking via video link to participants in the Conference of Mayors on Saturday.

"Everyone sees how the Russian army is fighting and what it is doing with the peaceful cities of Ukraine... Just imagine: since February 24, Russia has used almost 2,500 different missiles against Ukraine. The vast majority of them are at cities. At urban infrastructure. And one of the deadliest Russian missiles are designed and manufactured in Yekaterinburg, which, by the way, is still twinned with the city of San Jose," he said.

He also recalled the massacres in Bucha.

"I'm sure many of you have seen and heard what Russian soldiers did in our city of Bucha. Massacres, torture of people. The bodies of the killed locals laid right in the streets while Russian soldiers remained in the city. One of the Russian brigades that did all this against our people in Bucha was a brigade from Khabarovsk Territory of Russia. And the capital of this region, the city of Khabarovsk, is still twinned with American Portland," Zelensky said.

Zelensky also invited the mayors to join the restoration of Ukraine.

"Take patronage of a city, region or industry destroyed by Russian strikes. And rebuild them with the most modern technologies. This could be the largest economic project of our time, which will strengthen Ukraine, and every country, and every company that will participate in the post-war reconstruction You can join the implementation of this major project," the president said.