Firefighters are working at the scene after the first blow to Russian missiles hit an oil rig in an industrial area in the northeastern suburbs of Lviv, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 27, 2022. (AP Photo / Nariman El-Mofty) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the West of lacking courage as his country struggles to repel Russian invading troops, making an outraged call for fighter jets and tanks to defend themselves in a conflict that has sparked war. Speaking after US President Joe Biden said in a scathing speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not stay in power – words that the White House immediately sought to downplay – Zelensky criticized the “Western ping-pong for who and what how to deliver the jets “. and other weapons, while Russian missile strikes kill and trap civilians. “I spoke with the defenders of Mariupol today. I am in constant contact with them. “Their determination, their heroism and their stability are astonishing,” Zelensky said in a video message early Sunday, referring to the besieged southern city that has suffered some of the greatest deprivations and horrors of war. to deliver dozens of jets and tanks had 1% of their courage “. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its 32nd day, has halted in many areas, with the aim of quickly encircling the capital, Kyiv, and forcing its surrender by faltering in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance – reinforced by US and Russian weapons. other western allies. The British Ministry of Defense said that Russian troops appear to be trying to encircle Ukrainian forces directly facing the two separatist-controlled areas in the east of the country. This will cut off most of Ukraine’s army from the rest of the country. Moscow says it is focusing on removing from Ukraine the entire area of eastern Donbass, which has been partly controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. A senior Russian military official said on Friday that troops were being redirected eastward from other parts of the country. The leader of one of the separatist-held Donbass regions said Sunday he wanted a vote on joining Russia, words that could signal a change in Russia’s position. Leonid Pasechnik, the leader of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Luhansk, said he planned to hold a referendum on becoming part of Russia “in the near future”. Russia has backed separatist rebels in Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk since an uprising broke out there in 2014, shortly after Ukraine annexed the Crimean peninsula from Moscow. In talks with Ukraine so far, Moscow has urged Kyiv to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, has accused Russia of seeking to divide Ukraine into two, North and South Korea. “The occupiers will try to pull the occupiers into a single quasi-state structure and put them against an independent Ukraine,” Budanov said in a statement issued by the Defense Ministry, predicting that the Ukrainian guerrilla war would derail such plans. Ukraine says it needs fighter jets, not just missiles, and other military equipment provided by the West, to defeat Russia. A proposal to transfer Polish planes to Ukraine via the United States has been canceled amid NATO concerns about involvement in a military conflict with Russia. In his sharp remarks, Zelensky accused Western governments of “being afraid to prevent this tragedy. “They are just afraid to make a decision.” “So who is responsible for the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it still Moscow, thanks to its terror tactics?” “Our partners must step up their assistance to Ukraine,” he said. His appeal was echoed by a priest in the western city of Lviv, which was hit by rockets on Saturday. The airstrikes have shown that Moscow, despite recent allegations that it intends to shift the war to the east, is willing to strike anywhere in Ukraine. “When diplomacy does not work, we need military support,” said Rev. Yuri Vaskiv, who on Sunday reported fewer parishioners than usual in the pews of his Greek Catholic church, probably out of fear. Referring to Putin, he said: “This evil is from him and we must stop it.” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov confirmed that Russian forces had used cruise missiles fired from the air to hit a fuel depot and a defense plant in Liyev. He said another rocket-propelled grenade attack from the sea destroyed a missile depot in Plesetsk, just west of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
