[News] LIVE Russia-Ukraine crisis: Ukrainians prepare for Russian assault; Austrian leader to meet Putin

[_Happy boy]

 

Ukraine's armed forces braced on Monday for a new Russian offensive as powerful explosions rocked cities in the south and east, while Austria's leader planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and call for an end to the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky kept up his tireless campaign to generate international support and rally his countrymen, warning the coming week would be important and tense.

"Russia will be even more afraid. It will be afraid to lose. It will fear that the truth will have to be acknowledged," Zelensky said in a late night video address.

"Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state. They may use even more missiles against us, even more air bombs. But we are preparing for their actions. We will answer."

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he would meet Putin on Monday in Moscow for the Russian leader's first face-to-face meeting with a European Union counterpart since Russia's attack began on February 24.

"We are militarily neutral, but (have) a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against #Ukraine," Nehammer wrote of Austria on Twitter. "It must stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, ceasefire & full investigation of war crimes."

 

Russia's operation has forced about a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes, turned cities into rubble and killed or injured thousands.

It has failed to take any major cities, but Ukraine says Moscow has been gathering its forces in the east for a major offensive and has urged people to flee.

A series of powerful explosions were heard in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv and in Mykolaiv, near the Black Sea in the southern part of the country, Ukrainian media reported on Sunday.

Earlier, missiles destroyed the airport in the city of Dnipro, said Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Since Russia's attack, Zelenskiy has appealed to Western powers to provide more defence help, and to punish Moscow with tougher sanctions including embargoes on its energy exports.

Zelenskiy said he had confidence in his own armed forces but "unfortunately I don't have the confidence that we will be receiving everything we need" from the United States.

Zelenskiy said earlier on Twitter he had spoken on the phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about additional sanctions, as well as more defence and financial support for his country. Zelenskiy also discussed with Ukrainian officials Kyiv's proposals for a new package of EU sanctions, his office said.

Moscow has rejected accusations of war crimes by Ukraine and Western countries. It has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in what it calls a "special operation" to demilitarise its southern neighbour.

The World Bank on Sunday forecast the war would cause Ukraine's economic output to collapse by 45 per cent this year.

The bank forecast Russia's GDP would contract by 11.2 per cent this year due to punishing Western sanctions.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the powerful head of Russia's republic of Chechnya, said early on Monday that there will be an offensive by Russian forces not only on the besieged port of Mariupol, but also on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

"There will be an offensive ... not only on Mariupol, but also on other places, cities and villages," Kadyrov said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

"Luhansk and Donetsk - we will fully liberate in the first place ... and then take Kyiv and all other cities."

 

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