Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO to provide Kyiv with unrestricted military aid in a message via video link Thursday as crunch summits with European, G7 and NATO allies in Brussels focused on Russia's 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," the Ukrainian leader told NATO representatives.
US President Joe Biden, seeking to rally allies to forge a united response to Moscow, is also joining the meetings before visiting Poland Friday and Saturday.
Security measures were stepped up in the main streets of Brussels for two major meetings starting on the same day. Both the NATO gathering and a European Council summit will focus on the war in Ukraine.
So far the conflict has not spilt over into direct military conflagration between Russia and NATO, but there are growing fears Russia may up the ante with a chemical, biological or even tactical nuclear attack.
Thursday's Nato meeting is expected to bring pledges of more lethal weapons for Ukraine, and more sanctions on Russia's economy.
Reinforcements
In the latest sign that the war has reinvigorated NATO, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg announced it would send more reinforcements to guard against Russia expanding its campaign.
"Putin made 'big mistake' invading Ukraine, and that is to launch a war against an independent sovereign nation. He has underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian people, the bravery of the Ukrainian people and their armed forces" Stoltenberg said on Thursday ahead of the meeting, adding that NATO was to 'reset' eastern defences.
Leaders are set to agree to "major increases of forces" including four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
The allies will also offer "additional support" to Kyiv against nuclear and chemical threats, he said.
But NATO members, while maintaining a steady supply of anti-tank and short-range anti-aircraft missiles, have refused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's demands for a no-fly zone over Ukraine or shipment of warplanes to the Ukrainian air force, fearing all-out war with nuclear-armed Russia.
President Biden will travel to Belgium and Poland this week in an effort to bolster the Western alliance, making a symbolic appearance in a country whose leaders fear it could be a future target of Russian aggression. https://t.co/ei1xb8lBef
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 22, 2022
Humanitarian crisis
Biden will also head to Warsaw on Saturday for a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Poland is a crucial ally in the Ukraine crisis. It is hosting thousands of American troops and is taking in more people fleeing the war – more than 2 million – more than any other nation in the midst of the largest European refugee crisis in decades.
Biden will discuss how the US, along with its allies and partners, is responding to “the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,” according to White House spokesperson Jen Psaki.
On Monday, Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, and the leaders of Germany, Olaf Scholz, Italy, Mario Draghi and the UK, Boris Johnson.
According to a White House readout, the leaders "discussed their serious concerns about Russia’s brutal tactics in Ukraine, including its attacks on civilians" and reviewed "security and humanitarian assistance" for Ukraine and possibilities of a ceasefire.
Earlier on, Macron, who is heading the EU troika, said that the war in Ukraine constitutes an "electric shock" for NATO, while also advocating a stronger security cooperation between EU member states.
On 21 March, The European Union approved a new defence strategy designed to increase the bloc's capacity to act, including setting up a 5,000-strong rapid reaction force.
Zelensky's zeal
Meanwhile, in a late-night television address from the besieged capital Kyiv, Zelensky appealed in English for worldwide solidarity.
"The world must stop the war," he said. "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."
This week he addressed lawmakers in the parliaments across the western world.
After addressing the British Lower House, US Congress, the German Bundestag and the Isreali Knesset, on Tuesday he urged Italian lawmakers to beef up sanctions against Russia and seize more assets from President Vladimir Putin and his allies as a way of pressuring Moscow into negotiating an end to the war.
Wearing a collared shirt and speaking through an Italian translator, Zelensky told Italian lawmakers that he had just spoken by phone to Pope Francis and that the pontiff had endorsed Ukraine’s right to defend itself.
On Wednesday, Zelensky addressed the French National Assembly, urging lawmakers to put pressure on large companies to stop doing business in Russia.
"Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin and others must stop sponsoring the Russian war machine," he said.
Major French retailers such as Auchan, Leroy Merlin and sports group Decathlon have not followed a boycott of Russia by other top Western brands from McDonalds to Coca-Cola.
French energy giant TotalEnergies, formerly known as Total, has said it will continue to buy Russian gas but will stop purchasing Russian oil and petroleum products by the end of this year.
(With agencies)
