Muristek
Kyiv, March 24
Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy called on people worldwide to gather in public on Thursday to show support for his embattled country on the one-month anniversary of the Russian invasion that he said breaks the heart of "every free person on the planet."
Zelenskyy — whose video messages have repeatedly riveted the world's attention — also said he would speak to NATO members by video to ask the alliance to provide "effective and unrestricted" support to Ukraine, including any weapons the country needs to fend off the Russian onslaught.
"Come to your squares, your streets. Make yourselves visible and heard," Zelenskyy said in English during an emotional video address late on Wednesday that was recorded in the dark near the presidential offices in Kyiv. "Say that people matter. Freedom matters. Peace matters. Ukraine matters."
When Russia unleashed its invasion on February 24 in Europe's biggest offensive since World War II, a swift toppling of Ukraine's government seemed likely.
But with Wednesday marking four full weeks of fighting, Moscow is bogged down in a grinding military campaign.
NATO estimated that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, where fierce resistance has denied Moscow the lightning victory it sought.
By way of comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan.
A senior NATO military official said the alliance's estimate was based on information from Ukrainian authorities, what Russia has released — intentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from open sources.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by NATO.
In its last update, Russia said on March 2 that nearly 500 soldiers had been killed and almost 1,600 wounded.
Ukraine has released little information about its own military losses, and the West has not given an estimate, but Zelenskyy said nearly two weeks ago that about 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed.
Ukraine also claims to have killed six Russian generals. However, Russia acknowledges just one dead general.
Putin has warned the West that an attempt to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine would draw it into a conflict with Russia. Western nations have said they would not create a no-fly zone to protect Ukraine.
Zelenskyy appealed to Western countries to stay united in the face of Russia's efforts to "lobby its interests" with "some partners" to bring them over to its side, and noted during his national address that Ukraine has not received the fighter jets or modern air-defence systems it requested. He said Ukraine also needs tanks and anti-ship systems.
"It has been a month of defending ourselves from attempts to destroy us, wipe us off the face of the earth," he said.
In Kyiv, where near-constant shelling and gunfire shook the city on Wednesday as the two sides battled for control of multiple suburbs, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 264 civilians have been killed since the war broke out. The independent Russian news outlet The Insider said Russian journalist Oksana Baulina had been killed by shelling in a Kyiv neighbourhood on Wednesday.
In the south, the encircled port city of Mariupol has seen the worst devastation of the war, enduring weeks of bombardment and, now, street-by-street fighting. But Ukrainian forces have prevented its fall, thwarting an apparent bid by Moscow to fully secure a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.
In their last update, over a week ago, Mariupol officials said at least 2,300 people had died, but the true toll is probably much higher.
Zelenskyy said one lakh civilians remain in the city, which had a population of 4.3 lakh before the war.
Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of seizing a humanitarian convoy.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the Russians were holding captive 11 bus drivers and four rescue workers along with their vehicles.
In the besieged northern city of Chernihiv, Russian forces bombed and destroyed a bridge that was used for aid deliveries and civilian evacuations, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said.