Ukraine demands more weapons, claiming that Russia is destroying fuel and food storage facilities.

 

Reuters, LVIV, Ukraine, March 27 - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has requested the West to provide Ukraine with tanks, planes, and missiles to defend against Russian forces, who his administration claims are targeting the country's fuel and food depots.

President Joe Biden's three-day trip to Europe ended with remarks that suggested the US was taking a tougher stance against Russia, when he remarked on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power."

According to a White House official, Biden's impromptu statements during a speech in Warsaw were not a demand for regime change in Russia, but rather that Putin should not be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. Moscow criticized Biden's remarks, claiming that the US president had no authority over who ran Russia.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has wreaked havoc on multiple cities, triggered a humanitarian crisis, and driven millions of people to evacuate their homes.

Biden's impromptu remarks at a speech in Warsaw, according to a White House official, were not a demand for regime change in Russia, but rather that Putin should not be allowed to exert power over his neighbors or the region. Moscow slammed Biden's comments, arguing that the US president has no power over Russia's leadership.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused widespread devastation, sparked a humanitarian crisis, and forced millions of people to flee their homes.

So far, Western countries have provided Ukraine with anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as small guns and protective gear, but no heavy armour or planes.

"We've been waiting for 31 days. Who controls the Euro-Atlantic community? Is Moscow really remain Moscow due to fear of retaliation?" According to Zelenskiy, Western politicians are holding back on supplies because they are afraid of Russia.

According to Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko, Russia has begun destroying Ukrainian fuel and food storage facilities, implying that the government would have to disperse both inventories in the near future.

The Russian defense ministry appeared to confirm this, saying that their missiles destroyed a fuel depot and a military maintenance factory near the western city of Lviv on Saturday, roughly 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the Polish border.

Four missiles hit the city, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky, according to local officials, in a rare strike on the west of Ukraine, with much of the combat since the Russian invasion on February 24 focused on the south and east, as well as in the capital Kyiv in the north.

Biden was chastised for remarks he made at the end of a speech in which he attempted to depict the war as part of a long struggle for democratic values.

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden remarked, referring to Putin as a "butcher" earlier in the day.

On Twitter, veteran US diplomat Richard Haass, head of the Council on Foreign Relations, said the remarks made "a perilous situation even more deadly."

"I recommend that his top aides contact their counterparts and make it plain that the US is prepared to cope with this Russian (administration)," he wrote.

Moscow claims that the objectives of what Putin refers to as a "special military operation" are to demilitarize and "denazify" its neighbor. This is being portrayed by Ukraine and its Western supporters as a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.

Since its forces began flowing into Ukraine on February 24, Russia has been unable to conquer any significant Ukrainian city.

Russian forces looked to be concentrating their efforts to attempt the encirclement of Ukrainian forces directly facing separatist regions in the east of the country, according to the British Ministry of Defence's latest military

"The battlefield in northern Ukraine remains mainly stagnant," the ministry said, "with local Ukrainian counterattacks thwarting Russian attempts to reorganize their forces."

Russia's "full-scale armed aggression" continued on Sunday, according to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, while Ukrainian forces repelled seven attacks in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia is moving forces to the border on rotation, according to Interior Ministry adviser Denysenko, and could make further attempts to advance in its invasion. Moscow has stated that its operations are going according to plan, but Western leaders claim that the assault has mostly stalled because to stiff resistance.

Reuters was unable to independently verify reports of fighting across Ukraine.

On Sunday, Ukraine and Russia agreed on two "humanitarian corridors" to evacuate residents from frontline areas, including the ability to escape by private automobile from Mariupol in the south, according to Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

The surrounded port, which lies between Russian-annexed Crimea and eastern territory controlled by Russian-backed rebels, has been ravaged by weeks of severe bombing, forcing thousands of civilians to seek refuge in basements with limited access to water, food, medicine, or electricity.

The United Nations has confirmed 1,104 civilian deaths and 1,754 wounded in Ukraine, but the true toll is likely to be much higher. On Sunday, Ukraine announced that 139 children had been killed and more than 205 others had been injured.