President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged NATO to provide Ukraine with unrestricted military aid as Western leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, kicked off a series of extraordinary summits in Brussels to map out the next steps in efforts to stop Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
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“To save people and our cities, Ukraine needs military assistance without restrictions. In the same way that Russia is using its full arsenal without restrictions against us,” Zelenskiy told NATO leaders via video link as fierce fighting continues in the besieged city of Mariupol and other flash points across the country.
“The alliance can still prevent the deaths of Ukrainians from Russian strikes, from Russian occupation, by giving us all the weapons we need,” Zelenskiy added in the video address.
While Zelenskiy suggested the alliance could supply Ukraine with equipment such as anti-missile weapons, tanks, and even jets, his speech was possibly more noteworthy for what he didn’t ask for: the enforcement of a no-fly zone to negate Russia’s air superiority and membership in NATO.
Previously, the Ukrainian leader had made several impassioned pleas for NATO to create and enforce a no-fly zone over the country, a request that has been roundly rejected because the United States and other allies say it will escalate the conflict by bringing NATO forces in direct engagement with Russia’s military.
Instead, Zelenskiy said his request for weapons and other military equipment from NATO members would give Ukraine “just like you, 100 percent security.”
“I am sure you already understand that Russia does not intend to stop in Ukraine. Does not think and will not. She wants to go further, against the eastern members of NATO. The Baltic states, Poland — that’s for sure,” he said.
Zelenskiy added that NATO had yet to show what it can do to save people, “to show that this is indeed the most powerful defense alliance in the world.”
Biden is scheduled to also take part in a European Union summit as well as a gathering of the Group of Seven industrialized states, and to use the occasion to announce more sanctions against Moscow.
Britain also announced that it was adding 59 Russian individuals and entities to its sanctions list, effectively freezing their assets and restricting the people on the list from coming to the country. Companies now on the list include Gazprombank, Alfa Bank, and the state-run shipping firm Sovcomflot.
In a separate video message late on March 23, Zelenskiy called on the world’s democracies to unite in the face of Russia’s “crude and cruel” force, accusing the invaders of atrocities against civilians and warning the West that freedom must take precedence over economic interests.
“At these three summits, we will see who is a friend, who is a partner, and who betrayed us for money. Life can be defended only when united,” he said.
Russian ground forces slowed or stopped in their tracks by Western-armed Ukrainian troops are resorting to indiscriminately shelling military and civilian targets alike from a distance.
Speaking ahead of the alliance summit, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russian President Vladimir Putin made a “big mistake” with his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Stoltenberg also said any use of chemical weapons would “fundamentally change” the nature of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as it would be a “blatant” violation of international law that will have “widespread and severe consequences.”
He said leaders at the meeting will discuss “the need for a reset of our deterrence and defense in the longer term.”
WATCH: Drone video has revealed widespread devastation in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The footage posted…
Read More: Zelenskiy Asks NATO For More Support As Western Leaders Hold Summits On Ukraine War