Ukraine news – latest: Zelensky urges unrestricted Nato aid as 15,000 Mariupol residents ‘deported to Russia’
Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Nato to provide unrestricted military aid to his country, saying this is the only way his troops can continue to fend off Russia’s invasion.
“To save people and our cities, Ukraine needs military assistance without restrictions,” the Ukrainian president told Nato members, who are gathered in Brussels for talks, via video link on Thursday. “In the same way that Russia is using its full arsenal without restrictions against us.”
The wartime leader thanked US president Joe Biden, UK prime minister Boris Johnson and other Western allies for the defensive equipment provided so far, but appealed for more, insisting just a fraction of their weapons would help.
It comes as authorities in Mariupol claimed around “15,000 residents” had now been “illegally deported” to Russia since Vladimir Putin’s forces took parts of the besieged port city. “Residents of the Left Bank district are beginning to be deported en masse,” Mariupol city council said in a statement. Russia still denies targeting civilians.
