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 to social media on March 22 showed the smoldering ruins of damaged residential buildings that have been hit by Russian shelling.
NATO has already said it will double the number of deployments it has in Europe by adding four more. The new installments will be located in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, said on March 24 that Russia was stalling in talks on a cease-fire in Ukraine and won’t take the discussions seriously until it has reached its goals.
A senior U.S. defense official said on March 23 that Moscow’s ground forces appeared to be setting up defensive positions 15 to 20 kilometers outside Kyiv as they had made little to no progress toward the city center.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in some areas east of Kyiv, Ukrainian troops appear to have pushed the Russians farther away.
The official added that there is activity from Russian ships in the Sea of Azov, where the besieged strategic port of Mariupol is located.
The Ukrainian Navy said on March 24 that it had struck a Russian naval transport vessel docked in the Sea of Azov near Mariupol.
“The Orsk large landing ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the occupiers has been destroyed in the port of Berdyansk captured by Russia,” the Ukrainian Navy wrote on social media.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen coming out of a large gray vessel docked next to big cranes in amateur footage of what the Ukrainian Navy said was the strike on the ship.
There was no immediate response to the claim from the Russian Defense Ministry and the strikes could not be independently confirmed.
In an interview with Spain’s TVE broadcast on March 24, Borrell said Putin has his eyes on surrounding the Black Sea coast to the border with Moldova in order to isolate Ukraine from the water.
“Right now, Russia doesn’t want to sit and negotiate anything. What it wants is to occupy the ground,” Borrell said. “It wants to negotiate in earnest only when it has secured a position of strength.”
Biden is scheduled to give a news conference after the March 24 meetings, then head to Poland for talks with leaders in that country, which has taken on the bulk of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting.
The monthlong pitched battles across Ukraine have pushed almost 4 million civilians out of the country and left tens of thousands stranded in cities without utilities and dwindling foods supplies, creating what the Red Cross has called “apocalyptic” conditions.
The UN General Assembly is preparing to meet on March 24 to discuss the war in Ukraine and a draft humanitarian resolution written by Kyiv. Unlike in the Security Council — where Russia, along with other permanent members, holds veto power — no one country can block a resolution in the General Assembly.
