Live: NATO-aligned defence ministers meet as Ukraine urges West to send more heavy weapons

Issued on: 15/06/2022 – 06:46

06:52am: Russia plans evacuations from chemical plant in battleground Ukraine city

Russia said it would establish a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from a chemical plant in Severodonetsk starting Wednesday as Ukrainian forces wage a desperate battle for control of the city.

The industrial hub is under intense bombardment as Russia focuses its offensive on the eastern Donbas region in an effort to seize a swathe of Ukraine.

Moscow’s forces have intensified efforts to cut off Ukrainian troops remaining in the city, destroying all three bridges which connect it across a river to the twin city of Lysychansk.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg meanwhile urged allies to send more heavy weapons to Ukraine, and said officials from the alliance would be discussing the subject at talks Wednesday. 

About 500 civilians are taking shelter in Severodonetsk’s Azot chemical plant, according to the head of the city’s administration.

The Russian defence ministry announced a humanitarian corridor would be established on Wednesday for evacuations from the plant, saying it was “guided by the principles of humanity”.

06:15am: NATO-aligned defence ministers meet as Ukraine urges West to send more heavy weapons

Dozens of defence ministers from NATO and other parts of the world are expected to discuss weapon deliveries to Ukraine on Wednesday in Brussels, US officials said, as Kyiv calls for a significant increase in arms to help hold off Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

The battle for Severodonetsk – a city of barely more than 100,000 people before the war – is now the biggest fight in Ukraine as the conflict has shifted into a punishing war of attrition.

Ukraine needs 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks and 1,000 drones among other heavy weapons, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Monday. Western countries have promised NATO-standard weapons – including advanced US rockets. But deploying them is taking time, and Ukraine will require consistent Western support to transition to new supplies and systems as stocks dwindle of their Soviet-era weapons and munitions.

The meeting on Wednesday on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministerial is being led by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the third time the group of nearly 50 countries are meeting to discuss and coordinate assistance to Ukraine. The previous in-person meeting was at Ramstein Air Base in Germany in April.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)