At an unprecedented triple summit, transatlantic alliance NATO, G7 rich nations and European leaders addressed the continent’s biggest conflict since the 1990s Balkans wars…reports Asian Lite News
Western leaders agreed on Wednesday to strengthen their forces on Europe’s eastern flank, increase military aid to Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia whose invasion and bombardment of its neighbor entered a second month.
At an unprecedented triple summit, transatlantic alliance NATO, G7 rich nations and European leaders addressed the continent’s biggest conflict since the 1990s Balkans wars.
NATO leaders met today in Brussels — one month since the start of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. We will continue to support Ukraine with security assistance to fight Russian aggression and uphold their right of self-defense. pic.twitter.com/F582A9qDJw
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 24, 2022
NATO announced new battle groups for four Eastern European nations, while the United States and Britain expanded sanctions to new targets, including a woman London said was the stepdaughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“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.
Various nations announced new military and humanitarian aid including promises to take in refugees. And the EU was set to unveil steps to wean itself off Russian energy.
Still, the pledges stopped short of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s calls for a full boycott of Russian energy and a no-fly zone over Ukraine where Moscow’s bombs are wreaking havoc.
Moscow responded to Thursday’s show of unity in Brussels by saying the West had itself to blame for the war by arming the “Kyiv regime.”
Cowering below ground
In the besieged southern port of Mariupol, which lies between Russian-annexed Crimea and eastern regions held by Russian-backed separatists, tens of thousands are in basements with scant water, food, medicine or power.
In one part captured by Russian troops, a patch of grass between blasted buildings has become a makeshift graveyard. Freshly-dug mounds are marked with plastic flowers and crosses made from broken window frames.
In a month of fighting, Ukraine has fended off what many analysts had anticipated would be a quick Russian victory.
So far, Moscow has failed to capture any major city. Its armored columns have barely moved in weeks, stalled at the gates of the capital Kyiv and besieging cities in the east.
They have taken heavy casualties and are low on supplies. Ukrainian officials say they are now shifting onto the offensive and have pushed back Russian forces, including north of Kyiv.
Ukraine said its forces had destroyed the Russian landing ship the “Orsk” at the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk.
Zelensky, who has won admiration across the West for leadership under fire, urged people around the world to take to the streets in support of Ukraine.
“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 another of his regular video addresses.
Ukraine’s armed forces chief of staff said on Thursday Russia was still trying to resume offensives to capture the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin ally, posted on social media that Chechen fighters had captured the main administrative building in Mariupol and raised their flag there. His account could not be confirmed independently.
Satellite photographs from commercial firm Maxar showed massive destruction of what was once a city of 400,000 people, with apartment buildings in flames.
Journalists have not been able to report from the Ukrainian-held part of Mariupol for 10 days, during which time Ukraine says Russia has bombed a theater and an art school used as shelters, burying hundreds alive.
Ukrainian officials accused Russia on Thursday of having forcibly deported 15,000 people from the city to Russia. Moscow denies this.
Almost three-quarters of the UN General Assembly demanded aid access in Ukraine and criticized Russia for creating a “dire” humanitarian situation — the second time the body has overwhelmingly isolated Moscow over the invasion.
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