Metro
Ukraine calls for ‘weapons, weapons, weapons’ at NATO talks
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday called on NATO members to provide Kyiv with all the heavy weaponry it needs to fight Russia’s invading forces.
“My agenda is very simple. It has only three items on it. Its weapons, weapons, and weapons,” Kuleba told journalists ahead of a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
“I call on all allies to put aside their hesitations, their reluctance, to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” he said.
Ukraine is pushing the West to increase its arms supplies with heavier weaponry, including air defence systems, artillery, armoured vehicles and jets, as Moscow refocuses its offensive on the east of the country.
Kuleba said economic powerhouse Germany “can do more” as he criticised allies that remain reluctant to send so-called “offensive” arms.
“This distinction between defensive and offensive doesn’t make any sense when it comes to the situation in my country,” Kuleba said.
“Those countries who are saying we will provide Ukraine with defensive weapons, but we are not in a position to provide them with offensive weapons — they are hypocritical, this is simply unfair, unjustified approach.”
NATO has refused to send troops to intervene in the fighting in non-member Ukraine, but has been sending crucial weaponry including anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.
“I think the deal that Ukraine is offering is fair. You give us weapons, we sacrifice our lives, and the war is contained in Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
‘Defensive war’
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said he was certain that allies would “address the need for more air defence systems, anti-tank weapons, lighter, but also heavier weapons and many different types of support to Ukraine”.
“Ukraine is fighting the defensive war. So this distinction between offensive and defensive weapons doesn’t actually have any real meaning,” Stoltenberg said.
The NATO chief said earlier that allies need to take advantage of a window of several weeks to supply weaponry now as Moscow repositions and rearms its forces for another major offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters Berlin was “looking closely with our partners how we can support Ukraine in the future, more intensively and more coordinated because they have a right of self-defence.”
NATO allies do appear to be heeding the call to step up the weapons being sent to Ukraine.
According to Czech media reports, Prague has sent Soviet-made T72 tanks and armoured vehicles to Ukraine , the first country to do so.
Czech officials have refused to confirm the move.
Alongside arms deliveries to Ukraine, the West has imposed a barrage of sanctions on Moscow aimed at battering Russia’s economy.
Kuleba welcomed a fresh wave of sanctions announced by the US, Britain and EU in the wake of revelations of killings in the town of Bucha, but insisted Europe especially must go further.
“We will continue to insist on full oil and gas embargo for Russia,” Kuleba said.
“I hope we will never face a situation again, when to step up the sanctions pressure we need atrocities like Bucha to be revealed.”
The EU is currently finalising its fifth round of sanctions, including a proposed ban on imports of Russian coal.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he thought measures against Russian oil would be discussed by EU foreign ministers at a meeting on Monday.
“Sooner or later, I hope sooner, it will happen,” he said.
Foreign ministers from the G7 group of most industrialised nations were to also meet at NATO headquarters on Thursday to coordinate the Western sanctions.
A tragic incident occurred on Saturday morning in the Ojodu-Berger area of Lagos State, as a building housing a popular local restaurant on Oremeta Street collapsed, leaving many feared dead.
The building was said to have given way at about 8:00 am, causing panic among residents and passers-by. Eyewitnesses reported a loud rumble before the structure came crashing down, trapping several individuals inside.
Emergency responders, including residents and rescue officials, have since commenced search and rescue operations at the site. As of the time of filing this report, the exact number of casualties remains unconfirmed, but several persons are believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.
Authorities are yet to issue an official statement regarding the cause of the collapse or the number of victims. However, efforts are ongoing to clear the debris and reach those who may still be alive underneath.
More details to follow.
Grief hung heavily in the air as the Zike community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State laid to rest 51 of its residents brutally murdered in a pre-dawn attack that has once again cast a dark shadow over the troubled region.
The victims, mostly women and children, were gunned down in the early hours of Monday when yet-to-be-identified assailants stormed the sleepy village, firing indiscriminately. The massacre is the latest in a string of violent assaults that have plagued Plateau State in recent times.
At the mass burial held in the community, emotions ran high as families, friends, and sympathizers wept uncontrollably. Traditional mourners draped in black wailed as the victims’ coffins were lowered into the earth — a harrowing scene that has become all too familiar in the region.
Speaking at the funeral, a visibly distraught community leader, Davidson Malison, described the attack as “disheartening” and lamented the scale of the devastation.
“I can tell you the situation is very disheartening,” Malison said. “We are still searching for more corpses. Something needs to be done to put an end to this.”
The Irigwe women leader, Mary Dikwa, echoed similar concerns, calling on the government to step up its responsibility in securing lives and property.
“They have been killing us in this our community,” Dikwa said in tears. “Several times they will come and attack us. This situation has gone out of hand.”
Monday’s carnage came barely two weeks after another deadly assault left over 50 people dead and several others severely injured, despite repeated reassurances by the government to restore peace to the North-Central state.
Reacting to the renewed wave of violence, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered security agencies to track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
“I have instructed security agencies to thoroughly investigate this crisis and identify those responsible for orchestrating these violent acts,” the President said in a statement released by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga. “We cannot allow this devastation and the tit-for-tat attacks to continue. Enough is enough.”
As the Zike community mourns yet another loss, residents are left clinging to hope — that someday soon, peace will return to their land and they can finally bury their dead without fearing for the lives of the living.
At least forty people have been confirmed dead following a brutal attack by unidentified assailants on Zike community in Kimakpa, located within the Kwall district of Bassa Local Government Area in Plateau State.
According to local sources, the assault took place in the early hours of Monday, with the attackers storming the village and opening fire indiscriminately. Residents, startled by the sound of gunfire, fled in panic, but many were caught in the hail of bullets.
A community leader in Kwall, Wakili Tongwe, revealed that he and a group of vigilantes, along with some security personnel, were on patrol in a nearby community when the assault occurred.
“We were on routine patrol in a different area when the attackers struck. By the time we arrived, they had already done significant damage,” Tongwe said.
He added that while the joint team of vigilantes and security operatives engaged the assailants and eventually repelled them, the casualties were already high. Thirty-six people were confirmed dead at the scene, with four others succumbing to their injuries later in hospital.
Several other villagers sustained gunshot wounds and are currently receiving treatment in medical facilities nearby.
As of the time of filing this report, security agencies in Plateau State are yet to issue any official statement regarding the incident.
This latest massacre comes barely two weeks after a similar attack in the Bokkos Local Government Area of the state, where over fifty people lost their lives in coordinated assaults on several communities.
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