As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges Europe to end energy dependence on Russia, more weapons head to Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants Europe to end its energy dependence on Russia — and stop the flow of cash it funnels to Moscow. In a video message, the Ukrainian leader said the length of this war — and how many Ukrainians are killed — will be decided by how quickly Ukraine's friends supply it with weapons and enforce an oil embargo against Russia.
While U.S. and allied nations' economic sanctions on Russia are painful, they are not severe enough to stop Russia's offensive, he said Friday.
Russian forces have failed to capture Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, plagued by military failures and a Ukrainian resistance much tougher than many expected. But explosions were reported in the capital, which Russia had recently threatened to invade before retreating, and in the western city Lviv on Saturday morning.
Ukraine is also bracing for a fresh assault in the east, which is still being pummeled from the air, as Russian forces regroup.
Nadezhda Aleksandrova says she wanted to flee her home in eastern Ukraine — but left it too late. Her son Sergei was killed by Russian shelling in their apartment.
"The glass from the window fell down, she says, and I saw him lying in a pool of blood," she told CBS News.
Officials in the southern city of Kryvyi Rih say they managed to stop Russian forces seizing control of this strategically important airport at the start of the war. Their plan was low tech, but ingenious: parking trucks and construction vehicles on the runway.
On the second day of war, a cargo plane normally used by airborne troops and three fighter jets tried to land, Oleksander Vilkul, head of the military administration, told CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams. They descended to about 200 meters, made a few circles and once they realized they couldn't land, they left.
Creative tactics help, but Ukrainian forces are massively outgunned by Russia. Vilkul said Ukrainian forces can't win the war without more weapons from the West.
"We need fighter jets, tanks, missiles, the whole spectrum of weapons," he told CBS News.
The White House says another $800 million in weapons should arrive in Ukraine soon, including heavy artillery and more javelin anti-tank missiles.
"We're continuing to supply Ukraine with the weapons and resources to defend their country," President Joe Biden said earlier this month. "You know, we won't be able to advertise every piece of security we give because our allies and partners are supplying to Ukraine through us, but advanced weapons and ammunition are flowing in every single day."