Western leaders met in Brussels on Thursday will agree to strengthen their forces in Eastern Europe and increase military aid to Ukraine as the Russian assault on its neighbour entered its second month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged them to go further and repeated his call for a no-fly zone over his country, where thousands of people have been killed, millions become refugees, and cities pulverised since Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed his invasion on February 24.
In Mariupol, the southern port city that has come to symbolise Ukraine’s plight, people were burying their dead and queuing for rations in pauses in the bombing.
Viktoria buried her 73-year-old stepfather Leonid, killed when the car ferrying him to a hospital was blown up 12 days ago.
“This guy had taken a seat instead of me and then they all got blown up in that car,” she told Reuters, pointing to the mangled remains of the vehicle. “It could have been me,” she sobbed.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been hiding in basements in Mariupol with no running water, food, medicine or power.
Ukrainian officials say they have pushed back the invaders in other areas, including around the capital Kyiv, thwarting Russian hopes of a swift victory.
In Brussels, Western leaders will warn Mr. Putin his country will pay “ruinous” costs for invading Ukraine during a series of NATO, G7 and EU summits over Thursday and Friday. U.S. President Joe Biden is among those attending.
Alarmed by the prospect that Russia might escalate the war, the NATO nations will agree to send Kyiv equipment to defend against biological, chemical and nuclear attacks.
The first U.S. shipment from a new, $800 million arms package for Ukraine will start flying out in the next day or so, a U.S. defence official said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would boost its forces in Eastern Europe by deploying four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia.
The Kremlin said most NATO member states suffered from an “hysterical and inadequate” understanding of what is going on in Ukraine.
Washington said Mr. Biden and his European counterparts would announce new sanctions against Russia and measures to tighten existing sanctions. However, EU diplomats played down expectations of major new sanctions.
Mr. Zelensky, who will address the NATO and EU summits by video conference, said he expected “serious steps” from Western allies.
