Zelensky pleads for more weapons now to save Ukraine

Ukraine’s President has made an impassioned plea to Western ­allies to speed arms deliveries and help stem “terrifying” casualties.

Residents of an apartment complex in Bakhmut begin to remove their belongings after a projectile fired on Sunday night from Russian troops landed in courtyard between two buildings. Picture: Getty Images

Ukraine’s President has made an impassioned plea to Western ­allies to speed arms deliveries and help stem “terrifying” casualties as Russian forces lay siege to the eastern city of Severodonetsk, ­destroying the last bridges into the industrial hub.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the human cost of the battle for the region was “simply terrifying”.

He expressed confidence in Ukraine’s ability to reclaim territory, calling on the nation’s allies to send more weapons.

“We just need enough weapons to ensure all of this. Our partners have them,” he said.

Presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak listed items he said the Ukrainian army required, including hundreds of howitzers, tanks and armoured vehicles.

“Being straightforward – to end the war we need heavy weapons,” he tweeted.

The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk have been targeted for weeks as the last areas in the eastern Donbas region of ­Luhansk still under Ukrainian control.

Regional Governor Sergiy Gaiday said Ukraine’s forces had been pushed back from Severodonetsk’s centre after a weeks-long Russian offensive.

“They destroyed all the bridges, and getting into the city is no longer possible. Evacuation is also not possible,” he told Radio Free Europe.

He said Russian forces controlled 70 to 80 per cent of the city but had not captured or encircled it.

The ruins of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. Picture: AFP

Last week, Ukraine’s Defence Minister said up to 100 of his troops were dying daily and 500 sustaining injuries. Previously, Mr Zelensky had estimated 60-100 Ukrainian soldiers were dying daily.

With the screws tightening on the Luhansk region, Ukrainian forces have two choices: “to surrender or die”, said Eduard Basurin, a representative for pro-Russian separatists.

The capture of Severodonetsk would open the road to Sloviansk and another major city, Kramatorsk, in Moscow’s push to conquer Donbas, a mainly Russian-speaking region partly held by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.

In Bucha, a town near Kyiv that has become synonymous with war crimes allegations, police said they had discovered another seven bodies in a grave.

“Several victims had their hands tied and knees bound,” Kyiv regional police chief Andriy Nebytov said on Facebook.

Dozens of bodies in civilian clothing were found in the town in April after Russian troops withdrew from the area following a month-long occupation.

Elsewhere in northern Ukraine, Russian rocket strikes hit the town of Pryluky, authorities said. Pryluky, which lies about 150km east of the capital, is home to a military airfield.

In Donetsk, separatist authorities said three people were killed and four wounded in Ukrainian shelling on a market.

A Russian serviceman inspects an underground tunnel under the Azovstal steel plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol. Picture: AFP

The nearby city of Lysychansk has been massively damaged after months of shelling, with no water, electricity or phone signal.

Ukrainian artillery uses the city’s high ground to exchange fire with Russian forces fighting for control of Severodonetsk, just across the river.

Lysychansk resident Maksym Katerin buried his mother and stepfather in his garden on Monday after a shell ripped through his yard, killing them instantly.

“I don’t know who did this, but if I knew, I would tear off their arms,” Mr Katerin said.

His neighbour Yevgeniya Panicheva wept, saying Mr Katerin’s mother “was lying here, her stomach was ripped and her guts were falling out. She was a very good, kind and helpful woman. Why did they do this to her?” “They bomb and they bomb and we don’t know what to do.”

Far from the battlefield, World Trade Organisation members gathered in Geneva to address the threat to global food security since Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine Deputy Agriculture Minister said a quarter of his country’s arable land had been lost but insisted national food ­security was not threatened.

AFP