KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy called on people worldwide to gather in public on Thursday to show support for his embattled country as he prepared to address US President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders gathered in Brussels on the one-month anniversary of the Russian invasion, according to AP.
“Come to your squares, your streets. Make yourselves visible and heard,” Zelenskyy said in English during an emotional video address late Wednesday that was recorded in the dark near the presidential offices in Kyiv. “Say that people matter. Freedom matters. Peace matters. Ukraine matters.”
When Russia unleashed its invasion February 24 in Europe’s biggest offensive since World War II, a swift toppling of Ukraine’s government seemed likely. But a month into the fighting, Moscow is bogged down in a grinding military campaign of attrition after meeting fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Ukraine’s navy reported on Thursday that it had sunk the Russian ship Orsk in the Sea of Asov near the port city of Berdyansk. It released photos and video of fire and thick smoke coming from the port area. Russia did not immediately comment on the claim.
Russia has been in possession of the port since February 27, and the Orsk had debarked armored vehicles there on Monday for use in Moscow’s offensive, the Zvezda TV channel of the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier this week. According to the report, the Orsk was the first Russian warship to enter Berdyansk, which is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) west along the coast from the besieged city of Mariupol.
To keep up the pressure on Russia, Zelenskyy said he would ask in a video conference with NATO members that the alliance provide “effective and unrestricted” support to Ukraine, including any weapons the country needs.
Biden was expected to discuss new sanctions and how to coordinate such measures, along with more military aid for Ukraine, with NATO members, and then talk with leaders of the G7 industrialised nations and the European Council in a series of meetings on Thursday.
On the eve of a meeting with Biden, European Union nations signed off on another 500 million euros ($550 million) in military aid for Ukraine.
Heading in to the talks, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters the alliance had already stepped up military support but needed to invest more to make good on pledged commitments.
“The meeting today will demonstrate the importance of North America and Europe standing together facing this crisis,” he said.
In its last update, Russia said March 2 that nearly 500 of its soldiers had been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. NATO estimates, however, that between 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops have been killed — the latter figure about what Russia lost in a decade of fighting in Afghanistan.
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