Former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is asking the West to send more military equipment to help his country continue its surprising resistance to the prevailing Russian firepower.
Dressed in armor and surrounded by troops shortly after returning from the front line near Kiev, Poroshenko said additional ammunition was just as important as sanctions imposed on Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“Every combat operator must be equipped with anti-tank missiles and that will stop Russian tanks,” Poroshenko told CNN on Sunday. “Russian tank drivers will refuse to go to Ukraine because it will be inevitable.
He also pleaded for more anti-aircraft missiles and additional radio equipment.
“The whole nation is struggling. Instead of the flowers of glory, Russia receives Molotov cocktails.
Poroshenko, a 56-year-old billionaire who served as president from 2014 until the loss of Vladimir Zelensky in 2019, also praised the leadership of the Biden administration as “really great.”
“I want to thank Joseph Biden, I want to thank the American people and I want to thank them NATO for their contribution to this success, “Poroshenko said.
“The Ukrainian army has proved that Ukraine is a real asset for NATO. “Just imagine how strong and sustainable the union with Ukraine would be,” he added.
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s former president, said on Sunday that troops needed more supplies to continue fighting the Russians for control of the country.
Amid declining morale among Russian troops – who ran out of gas, got lost and were attacked by locals as they asked about Ukraine’s direction – and tougher sanctions, Putin ordered forces managing Russia’s nuclear deterrence to be on alert.
Poroshenko said the consequences of the conflict could spread beyond European borders.
“It is clear now that Putin has started a war not only against Ukraine but also against the West. Ukraine is only the first phase of this war, and Putin’s decision today to put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on high alert creates a whole new security situation.
He added: “This nuclear madness that Putin has presented is a much greater threat to the world than bin Laden. By helping Ukraine resist the invasion, you are helping to minimize the potential losses of your countries in the next phase of Putin’s madness.
As the battle rages, soldiers need radio equipment, armored jackets, helmets, anti-aircraft missiles, spears, helmets and more to continue to fend off the Russians, Poroshenko said. In the photo, locals train near Kiev on January 30, 2022
The former president said: “Every combat operator must be equipped with anti-tank missiles and this will stop Russian tanks.” A Russian armored personnel carrier is depicted burning next to the body of an unidentified soldier on February 27, 2022.
A Ukrainian soldier examines a destroyed Russian car after a battle in Kharkiv on February 27, 2022.
About 4,500 Russian soldiers have died and 50 planes have been shot down since the conflict began last week, he said.
In a bid to stop the bloodshed, Kiev and Moscow will hold peace talks on the border with Belarus, Zelensky confirmed on Sunday. The meeting will take place as the Ukrainian president’s office says the two delegations will meet “without preconditions” near the Pripyat River, north of Chernobyl, in a deal reached during a telephone conversation with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
“Alexander Lukashenko has taken the responsibility to ensure that all aircraft, helicopters and missiles stationed in Belarus remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travels, talks and return,” the statement said.
Zelensky described his discussion with Lukashenko as “very important”, adding that he had made it clear that he did not want troops to move from Belarus to Ukraine, and that Lukashenko “assured him”.
Poroshenko warns Putin-led invasion of Ukraine is only first phase of Russian president’s plan for “madness”
Smoke rises from a destroyed Russian tank in the Luhansk region on February 26, 2022. Poroshenko said about 4,500 Russian soldiers died in the conflict
In a televised address, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the talks were convened after Belarus prepared its forces to join the Russian invasion.
“Today we were so close to the entry of the Belarusian armed forces into the war. That is why President Zelensky and President Lukashenko spoke today, “he said in a statement.
“We need to defend our northern flank and we need to minimize the threats coming from there. So we agreed to send a delegation to the place on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and go there to hear what Russia has to say.
“We are going there without prior agreement on what the outcome of these negotiations could be. We go there to say what we think about this war and Russia’s actions.
The Ukrainian army has killed 4,500 Russian soldiers and shot down 50 planes. A Ukrainian soldier is pictured examining a destroyed Russian car on February 27, 2022
In a televised address, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (right) said the talks were convened after Belarus prepared its forces to join the Russian invasion. “Today we were so close to the entry of the Belarusian armed forces into the war. That is why President Zelensky and President Lukashenko (left) spoke today, “he said in a statement.
Kuleba said Belarus had assured Ukraine that Belarusian military force would not be used against Kiev while negotiations were under way, but he insisted that the Ukrainian military would continue to “fiercely defend” the country from Russian attacks in the meantime.
“I think the fact that Russia wants to speak without any preconditions or ultimatums, without any demands on Ukraine, is already a victory for Ukraine,” he added.
The Iskander missiles were fired from Belarus to Ukraine at around 17:00 (15:00 GMT), said an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister.
This came when Putin announced in his own televised address that he had ordered troops to act with nuclear deterrence to introduce a “special duty regime” in light of “aggressive statements” by NATO leaders and “hostile economic action”. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg replied: “This is dangerous rhetoric.”
Russian forces entered Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukraine, on Sunday after failing overnight to seize control of the capital, Kiev, on February 26, 2022.
A Ukrainian serviceman and his dog are standing in a position near smoke from a burned oil depot after a Russian missile attack near Kiev on February 27, 2022.
Ukraine has filed a lawsuit against Russia in The Hague, with Zelensky asking the UN International Court of Justice to order Russia to stop its attack on Ukraine and launch trials soon.
Meanwhile, the EU has unveiled a new package of sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime, closing its airspace to all Russian planes and banning Kremlin propaganda publications Russia Today and Sputnik.
Earlier today, in a speech marking Russia’s Special Forces Day, Putin thanked soldiers for “heroically fulfilling their military duty” in Ukraine before reiterating his propaganda line that his armies were helping the People’s Republics of Ukraine. Donbass “- targeting two rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine that Russia recognized as independent states before the invasion.
“I want to thank the command, the personnel of the special operations forces, the veterans of the special forces for their loyalty to the oath, for their impeccable service in the name of the people of Russia and our great homeland,” he said.
Ukrainian fighters are depicted testing an automatic grenade launcher taken from a destroyed Russian infantry machine on February 27, 2022.
Russian forces stormed Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukraine, today after failing in a night-long effort to take control of the capital, Kiev.
However, reports in Ukraine show that troops have successfully repulsed a Russian offensive near Kharkov, which is close to Russia’s border, with a British reporter on the ground confirming that the city remains under Ukrainian control despite the attack this morning.
Oleh Sinekhubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration, said today that Ukrainian troops had managed to retake the city. In a Telegram post, he said: “Control over Kharkov is entirely ours!
“The armed forces, the national police and the defense forces are working and the city is completely cleansed of the enemy.”
Kharkov’s defense came after Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said today that Ukrainian troops had killed or wounded more than 4,300 Russian soldiers in the first three days of fighting. Russia has not released up-to-date information on its military losses.
So far, the Kremlin has not declared any casualties, although the head of Dagestan’s regional government recently expressed its condolences to the family of the slain paratrooper, which may have deviated from the official scenario.
A US official told Reuters that Russia had invested about two-thirds of its fighting power in Ukraine and fired more than 320 missiles during the conflict.
In an article today, UK Armed Forces Secretary James Happy insisted that “Putin’s days are numbered” if he fails in Ukraine, with his campaign lagging far behind schedule.