Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday said the situation in the country’s east and south remained difficult as Russian troops pushed on with renewed attacks.
“The occupiers aren’t abandoning their attempts to score at least some victory by launching a new, large-scale offensive,” Mr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.
He said Ukraine’s western allies had “come to understand our needs better”, and that the country was receiving new shipments of weapons.
The deliveries were coming “now, when Russia is trying to step up its attacks, not in weeks or in a month”, Mr Zelenskyy said.
"The European Union is currently preparing a sixth package of sanctions. We discussed this today with [European Council President] Charles Michel," he said.
"We are working to make it truly painful for the Russian military machine and the Russian state as a whole.
"I emphasise in all negotiations that sanctions are needed not as an end in themselves, but as a practical tool to motivate Russia to seek peace."
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A sign that reads 'Children' is fixed on to a car windscreen riddled with bulletholes in Irpin, Ukraine. AFP -
A woman weeps next to her husband's coffin at a cemetery in Irpin. AFP -
Residents walk amid debris of a charred Russian tank next to destroyed houses in the village of Zalissya. AFP -
Volunteers distribute food to residents in Zalissya. AFP -
A man walks past a damaged apartment building in the southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
Tamara, 71, cries in front of a destroyed apartment building in Mariupol. Reuters -
Local residents push a cart with a child past destroyed buildings in Mariupol. Reuters -
A record player sits among debris inside an apartment in Mariupol. Reuters -
Residents carry belongings past a destroyed building in Mariupol. Reuters -
Security guards help an injured man following a Russian bombing of a factory in Kramatorsk. AP -
A man receives first aid treatment. AP -
Soldiers collect explosives after recent battles in the village of Moshchun, close to Kyiv. AP -
The Komodor logistics park lies in ruins after being bombed and burnt during the Russian invasion near Makarov. Getty Images -
A room in a kindergarten stands windowless in Makarov. Getty Images -
A vehicle draped with a Ukrainian flag passes over a war-damaged bridge in Makarov. Getty Images -
A man sits in a basement that was used as a bomb shelter in the village of Kukhari. EPA -
Local residents clean the area around a destroyed farm in Kukhari. EPA -
Nadia looks at her husband's coffin at a cemetery in Bucha. He was killed during the war. AFP -
Mangled buildings in Irpin point to the ravages of the ongoing war. Getty Images -
A burnt apartment tower in Irpin. Getty Images -
Family members grieve during the funeral of Ruslan Nechyporenko, 47, in Bucha. Getty Images -
An abandoned Russian military position in Borodyanka town near Kyiv. EPA -
Heavily pregnant Dr Marta Kopan, who fled Kyiv with her husband Dr Maxim Motsya and their three-year-old son Makar, narrates their ordeal at a relative's place in Lviv. AP -
A Ukrainian officer searches for unexploded explosives as he passes by an Antonov An-225, the world's biggest cargo aircraft, destroyed during the war on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
A woman stands amid the destruction caused when a civilian building was hit by a Russian missile in Lviv, western Ukraine. Getty Images -
Ukrainian soldiers on an armoured personnel carrier, near the front line with Russian troops, in Izyum district, Kharkiv region, north-eastern Ukraine. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees arrive at the Siret border crossing between Romania and Ukraine. AFP -
Ukranian soldiers in a trench look out across the front line near Kharkiv. AFP -
Cars destroyed in Russian attacks, in Irpin, near Kyiv. The scene of fierce fighting, the town was occupied by Russian forces. Reuters -
Damaged and destroyed vehicles at Illich Iron and Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists in besieged south-eastern city Mariupol. AP -
Russian military vehicles in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists near Mariupol. AP -
An elderly woman waits do be evacuated from a hospice in Chasiv Yar city, in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. At least 35 residents have been helped to flee from the region that has been under attack for weeks. AP -
A Ukrainian Interior Ministry serviceman collects unexploded shells, grenades and mines, following fierce fighting in Hostomel. AP
Mr Zelenskyy also urged the West to quickly implement a full ban on imports of the Russian oil and oil products.
