Armed and ready: A Ukrainian serviceman keeping his position not far from the Ukrainian town of Chuguiv, in Kharkiv region. – AFP
KYIV: Ukraine pleaded to Western countries for faster deliveries of weapons as better-armed Russian forces pounded the east of the country, and for humanitarian support to combat growing outbreaks of deadly diseases.
In Sievierodonetsk, the small city that has become the focus of Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine and one of the bloodiest flashpoints in a war well into its fourth month, further heavy fighting was reported.
The war in the east, where Russia is focussing its attention, is now primarily an artillery battle in which Kyiv is severely outgunned, Ukrainian officials say.
That means the tide of events could be turned only if Washington and others fulfil promises to send more and better weaponry, including rocket systems.
“This is an artillery war now,” Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s deputy head of military intelligence, told Britain’s Guardian newspaper.
“Everything now depends on what (the West) gives us. Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces.”
To the south, the mayor of Mariupol – reduced to ruins by a Russian siege – said sanitation systems were broken and corpses were rotting in the streets.
“There is an outbreak of dysentery and cholera,” Vadym Boichenko told national television.
“The war which took over 20,000 residents ... unfortunately, with these infection outbreaks, will claim thousands more Mariupolites,” he said, adding some wells had been contaminated by corpses.
Boichenko called on the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow remaining residents to leave the city, which is now under Russian control.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said on Friday that his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy “didn’t want to hear” American warnings ahead of Russia’s invasion of his country.
“I know a lot of people thought I was exaggerating,” Biden said at a fundraising reception in Los Angeles, referring to his forewarning of the possibility of a Russian attack.
“But I knew we had data to sustain (the assessment),” he added.
“(Russian President Vladimir Putin) was gonna go into the border. And there was no doubt, and Zelenskyy didn’t want to hear it, nor did a lot of people. I understand why they didn’t want to hear it, but he went in.”
The United States began raising the alarm over Russia’s preparations for an invasion of Ukraine well before Putin announced the “special operation” against the country on Feb 24.
The warnings were met with disbelief and even veiled criticism from some European allies, who at the time felt the United States was being too alarmist. — Agencies
