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KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the West for lacking unity today, as the Russian invasion entered its fourth month and Moscow’s troops advanced in eastern Ukraine.
Fighting reached the edge of the industrial city of Severodonetsk, which is under fierce bombardment by Russian forces who are trying to encircle it in one of their key goals in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
An unrepentant Moscow told the West to lift sanctions to stave off a global food crisis sparked by the war between two countries that together produce nearly a third of the world's wheat.
Zelenskyy renewed calls for heavy weapons from foreign partners, saying the billions of dollars’ worth already put up were not enough to help Ukraine’s outgunned forces.
“Unity is about weapons. My question is, is there this unity in practice? I can’t see it. Our huge advantage over Russia would be when we are truly united,” Zelensky said via videolink to an event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was grateful for US support, but urged Europe to step up, specifically naming neighbouring Hungary which is blocking an EU-wide embargo on Russian oil.
The Ukrainian president said hours earlier in his daily address to the nation that Russian forces “want to destroy everything” in eastern Ukraine.
Western funds and weapons have helped Ukraine hold off its neighbour’s advances in many areas, including the capital Kyiv.
Russia is now focused on expanding its gains in eastern Donbas, home to pro-Russian separatists, as well as the southern coast. – AFP, May 25, 2022