(Reuters) – Zelenskiy said he would meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Kyiv on Sunday and that he hoped to secure heavy weapons he said were vital for Ukraine to eventually retake Russian-occupied territory.
FIGHTING
* Russia has deployed Iskander-M mobile battlefield missile launchers within 60 km (40 miles) of the Ukrainian border, Ukraine’s military said. The mobile system’s two ballistic missiles have a range of up to 500 km (300 miles) and can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.
* Russia resumed its assault on the last defenders in a giant steel works in Mariupol, a Ukrainian official said, days after Moscow declared victory in the southern port city and said its forces did not need to take the factory.
* A new attempt to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from war-torn Mariupol failed, an aide to the city’s mayor said, blaming Russian forces. The official said 200 residents of Mariupol had gathered to be evacuated but the Russian military told them to disperse and warned of possible shelling.
DIPLOMACY
* The International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine had asked for “a comprehensive list of equipment” to operate its nuclear power plants, including radiation measurement devices, protective material, computer-related assistance, power supply systems and diesel generators.
* Germany must do everything in its power to help Ukraine win the war against Russia but without endangering its own security and NATO’s defence capability, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said.
QUOTES
* “I want to see the sun because in here it’s dim, not like outside. When our houses are rebuilt we can live in peace. Let Ukraine win because Ukraine is our native home,” said an unnamed boy speaking on a video released by the Azov battalion showing civilians holed up in a steel works in Mariupol.
(Compiled by William Mallard)
