Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged European Union leaders on Thursday to use billions of euros in profits from frozen Russian financial assets to purchase arms for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
"Russia must feel the real cost of war and the need for a just peace," Zelenskyy, via video link, told the EU leaders who were holding a two-day summit in Brussels.
The European Commission, the EU's executive body, this week proposed moving 90% of profits from the frozen Russian assets to an EU-run fund used to finance arms for Ukraine. The profits made from the assets are estimated to be between 2.5 billion euros, or $2.73 billion, and 3 billion euros annually.
Some European leaders, including those from Belgium and Germany, support the proposal, but others, including Austria's, expressed concern about the plan.
Some Western banks have also come out against the proposal, citing concerns that redistributing the interest earned from frozen Russian assets could lead to litigation against them.
The proposal came as Russia's defense minister said Thursday that Russian artillery shell production had increased by almost 2.5 times over the past year.
In Zelenskyy's comments to the EU leaders, he said it was "humiliating for Europe" that Ukraine did not have enough arms in its war against Russia.
Burned cars are pictured after Russian attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2024. (Serhii Popko, Kyiv City Military Administration)
Those remarks came after Russian aerial attacks targeted Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Thursday, with the Ukrainian air force saying it had shot down all 31 Russian missiles involved.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that rocket fragments fell in multiple districts of the city, hitting residential buildings and causing several fires.
Klitschko said at least 10 people were injured.
"Such terror continues every day and night," Zelenskyy said on social media Thursday.
A firefighter sprays water inside a building at the site of a Russian attack, in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 21, 2024. More than two dozen missiles were shot down over Kyiv on Thursday morning, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration.
Later in the afternoon, a Russian missile attack on Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv killed at least one person and wounded four others, officials said.
Zelenskyy called on the support of Ukraine’s partners, particularly in providing air defense systems.
"Russian terrorists do not have missiles capable of bypassing Patriot and other leading world systems," Zelenskyy said. "This protection is required in Ukraine now. From Kyiv to Kharkiv, Sumy to Kherson, and Odesa to the Donetsk region. This is entirely possible if our partners demonstrate sufficient political will."
The attack on Kyiv came a day after Zelenskyy hosted White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan for talks.
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Sullivan sought to reassure Ukrainians that the United States continues to support Ukraine and that despite a delay in Congress, billions in aid will get to the country.
"We will get a strong bipartisan vote in Congress," Sullivan said during a press conference, calling it Plan A.
"We will get that money to you as we should, so I don't think we need to speak about Plan B today." He also acknowledged that the process had "taken too long."
Sullivan met with Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff. They talked about what Ukraine needs on the battlefield and two upcoming summits: the NATO summit in July in Washington and a peace summit in Switzerland that is not yet scheduled but may happen this spring. Yermak said that China, an ally of Russia, could attend, but Ukraine will not invite Russia.
Climate of fear
In a new report, the United Nations’ human rights office said Russia has created a climate of fear in areas of Ukraine it is occupying.
Based on more than 2,300 interviews with victims and witnesses, the report said Moscow’s forces had imposed use of the Russian language and basic Russian governance, while suppressing expressions of Ukrainian culture and identity.
“The actions of the Russian Federation have ruptured the social fabric of communities and left individuals isolated, with profound and long-lasting consequences for Ukrainian society as a whole,” said Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
The report said, “The occupying authorities shut down Ukrainian internet and mobile networks, TV and radio channels, with traffic re-routed through Russian networks, which allowed control over information accessible online and prevented the population from freely receiving information from independent news sources, families or friends. People were encouraged to inform on one another, leaving them afraid even of their own friends and neighbors.”
A coalition of Russians fighting for Ukraine, meanwhile, said Thursday that they would continue their cross-border raids into Russia.
"Our struggle continues," the fighters said in a statement. "Soon we will go to other cities."
Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.