A commander in Ukraine's strategic port city Mariupol has issued a desperate plea for help, saying his marines are "maybe facing our last days, if not hours" on Wednesday.
The West has responded to a renewed Russian push in the east with fresh weapons for Kyiv and a move to increase "Moscow's international isolation".
The Pentagon said that Ukraine had recently received fighter planes and parts to bolster its air force, declining to specify the number of aircraft and their origin. Kyiv has asked its Western partners to provide MiG-29s, which its pilots already know how to fly and a handful of Eastern European countries have.
Also on Wednesday, new humanitarian corridors were opened, agreed by Ukrainian and Russian forces, to allow civilians to evacuate Mariupol, which has been described as apocalyptic following Moscow's bombardment.
The New Arab is providing live updates of what's been happening on the ground and additional analysis on the conflict's significance.
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