By John Chalmers and Natalia Zinets
March 24, 2022
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses French
lawmakers via video lin, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv,
Ukraine March 23, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via
REUTERS
·
Summary
·
Adds details from
Mariupol, summit
·
Western leaders meet
to take more action against Russia
·
War enters second
month
·
In besieged Mariupol,
people bury their dead
·
Energy supplies
complicate responses
BRUSSELS/LVIV/MARIUPOL,
Ukraine, March 24 (Reuters) - Western leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday
will agree to strengthen their forces in Eastern Europe and increase military
aid to Ukraine as the Russian assault on its neighbour entered its second
month.
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged people around the world to take to the streets in
solidarity with his country, where thousands of people have been killed,
millions become refugees, and cities have been pulverised since Russian
President Vladimir Putin unleashed his invasion on Feb. 24.
In Mariupol, the
southern port city that has come to symbolise Ukraine's plight, people were
burying their dead and queuing for rations in pauses in the bombing.
One woman there,
Viktoria, buried her 73-year-old stepfather Leonid, killed when the car
ferrying him to a hospital was blown up 12 days ago.
"This guy had
taken a seat instead of me and then they all got blown up in that car,"
she told Reuters, pointing to the mangled remains of the vehicle.
"It could have
been me," she sobbed.
Hundreds of thousands
of people have been hiding in basements in Mariupol with no running water,
food, medicine or power.
Reuters reached a part
of the city captured by Russian forces. No independent journalists have
reported from the Ukrainian-held part of the besieged city in more than a week.
Ukrainian officials
say they have pushed back the invaders in other areas, including around the
capital Kyiv, thwarting Russian hopes of a swift victory.
RUINOUS
In Brussels, Western
leaders will warn Putin his country will pay "ruinous" costs for
invading Ukraine during a series of NATO, G7 and EU summits over Thursday and
Friday. U.S. President Joe Biden is among those attending.
Alarmed by the
prospect that Russia might escalate the war, the NATO nations will agree to
send Kyiv equipment to defend against biological, chemical and nuclear
attacks. read more
"We must ensure
that the decision to invade a sovereign independent country is understood to be
a strategic failure that carries with it ruinous costs for Putin and
Russia," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the EU parliament.
The United States planned
to announce more sanctions on Russian political figures and oligarchs, the
White House said.
The first U.S.
shipment from a new, $800 million arms package for Ukraine will start flying
out in the next day or so, a U.S. defence official said. read more
NATO Secretary-General
Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would boost its forces in Eastern Europe by
deploying four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia.
Washington said Biden
and his European counterparts would announce new sanctions against Russia and
measures to tighten existing sanctions. However, EU diplomats played down
expectations of major new sanctions.
Zelenskiy, who will
address the NATO and EU summits by video conference, said he expected
"serious steps" from Western allies. He repeated his call for a
no-fly zone, although Western leaders have rejected this as a move that would
drag them directly into the war.
The Ukrainian leader,
who has won admiration across the West for his leadership under fire, also
called on people around the world to demand an end to the bloodshed.
"Come from your
offices, your homes, your schools and universities, come in the name of peace,
come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support
life," he said in a video address.
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
After four weeks of
conflict, Russia has failed to seize any big city and with its ground advances
seemingly stalled has engaged in aerial bombardments of cities, causing a
humanitarian crisis. The Kremlin denies targeting civilians.
Although the Kremlin
says its operation is going to plan, Russian forces have taken heavy losses and
face supply problems.
Former teacher Natalia reacts near the ruins of her house
which was hit in a military strike, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv,
Ukraine March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko
Moscow calls its
actions a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy
territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and
capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
The West says this a
baseless pretext for an unprovoked war.
Mariupol has been
worst hit. Satellite photographs from commercial firm Maxar showed massive
destruction of what was once a city of 400,000 people, with residential
apartment buildings in flames.
In a part of the city
controlled by Russian forces, more than 100 people waited patiently in line on
Wednesday for boxes of food and humanitarian supplies being distributed from a
truck.
Angelina, a young
mother of two, said she had received bread, diapers and baby food.
"It's difficult
to leave by bus now. We hope the number of people trying to get out will go
down and it will get easier for us to leave," she said.
Ukraine's armed forces
chief of staff said on Thursday Russia was still trying to resume offensive
operations to capture the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and
Mariupol.
To counter troop
shortages, Moscow was moving in fresh units close to the Ukraine border and
calling up soldiers who had recently served in Syria, it said.
Zelenskiy repeated he
was ready to have a face-to-face meeting with Putin to end the war.
"We are ready to
discuss the terms of the ceasefire, the terms of peace, but we are not ready
for ultimatums," he said.
FREEZE OUT
International
sanctions have frozen Russia out of world commerce. But the biggest loophole is
an exception for its energy exports. Some EU member states are resisting calls
to ban Russian oil and gas as they rely heavily on them.
EU leaders are
expected to agree at their summit to jointly buy gas as they seek to cut that
reliance. L3N2VQ3IG
Brussels is also
aiming to strike a deal with Biden to secure additional U.S. liquefied natural
gas supplies for the next two winters.
"The consequences
of this war on Europe's security architecture will be far-reaching," the
president of the EU's executive, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday.
"And I am not just talking about security in military terms. But also energy
security, and even food security are at stake."
Reporting by a Reuters
journalist in Mariupol, Natalia Zinets in Lviv, John Chalmers in Brussels and
Reuters bureaux Writing by Angus MacSwan Editing by Peter Graff
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