Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky has made an impassioned plea to Nato leaders to give military aid “without limits” to help his country resist Russia’s invasion.
In a video address on Thursday, the president said a tiny percentage of the warplanes and tanks controlled by Nato members could make the difference.
“We can’t just buy those,” he said. “When we will have all this, it will give us, just like you, 100 per cent security.”
Mr Zelensky also accused Russia of using phosphorous bombs on civilians on Thursday morning.
He called on Western leaders to give Ukraine unlimited help against Russia, which is “without limits using its entire arsenal” against the country.
Ukraine is in dire need of multiple launch rocket systems, anti-ship weapons and air defence systems, he added. “Is it possible to survive in such a war without this?”
His comments came ahead of an emergency Nato summit in Brussels on Thursday, which was being attended by world leaders including Joe Biden and Boris Johnson. Mr Zelensky was expected to address alliance members directly by video link.
Bulgaria’s prime minister Kiril Petkov said more than 150 British troops will join a new Nato combat unit group in the country, as the alliance bolsters its eastern flank after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nato has already increased its presence on its eastern borders, with some 40,000 troops spread from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The alliance is expected to agree on Thursday to deploy four new combat units in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
On the eve of the summit, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the new forces will remain in place “as long as necessary”.
“Along with our existing forces in the Baltic countries and Poland, this means that we will have eight multinational Nato battlegroups all along the eastern flank, from the Baltic to the Black Sea,” Mr Stoltenberg said. The alliance also has 140 warships at sea and 130 aircraft on high alert.
Russia’s actions, he told reporters, have become the “new normal for our security, and Nato has to respond to that new reality”.
Part of that new reality has been veiled threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin about the possible use of nuclear weapons and attempts at what Nato members say could be “false flag” operations to serve as a pretext for using chemical arms in Ukraine.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Stoltenberg said Nato is stepping up measures to protect Ukraine and members of the alliance from a Russian chemical or nuclear attack.
“Today we agreed to do more including cyber-security assistance and equipment to help Ukraine protect against biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear threats,” he said.
This could include detection equipment, protection and medical supplies, as well as training for decontamination and “crisis management”.
Mr Stoltenberg said Nato’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence elements had been activated and “we are taking measures both to support Ukraine and to defend ourselves”.
Asked whether the move was based on credible intelligence, Mr Stoltenberg said: “We are concerned, partly because we see the rhetoric and we see that Russia is trying to create some kind of pretext - accusing Ukraine, the United States, Nato allies - for preparing to use chemical and biological weapons.”
Any use of chemical weapons “will totally change the nature of the conflict, it will be a blatant violation of international law and it will have widespread consequences”.
He said Russia had used chemical weapons before - including in Salisbury - and had supported the Assad regime in Syria.
