Zelenskiy called for more support from NATO
According to RFE/RL, 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.
"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, who is taking part in a European Union summit as well as a gathering of the Group of Seven industrialized states, used the occasion to slap sanctions on more than 400 Russian politicians, oligarchs, and companies over Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. Treasury said in a statement that the expanded list of those sanctioned includes dozens of Russian defense companies, 328 members of the Russian State Duma, and the head of Russia's largest financial institution, Sberbank.
