Kyiv - Ukraine braced to battle for control of its industrial east and appealed for more help from the West after Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup. UN Security Council will vote on Thursday to suspend Russia over reports of human rights violations in Ukraine.

Authorities warned people to evacuate immediately from the Donbas region before Russia intensified its offensive.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged NATO to provide more weapons for his war-torn country to help prevent further atrocities like those reported in the city of Bucha.

Kuleba said as he arrived at NATO headquarters Thursday, “My agenda is very simple… it’s weapons, weapons and weapons” He is Brussels for talks with the military organization’s foreign ministers about Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

“The more weapons we get and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved.”, he asserted.

A U.S. defense official speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia had pulled all of its estimated 24,000 or more troops from the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas in the north, sending them into Belarus or Russia to resupply and reorganize, probably to return to fight in the east, reported AP.

In his nightly address Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also warned Russia’s military is gearing up for a new offensive in the east.

Zelenskyy spoke by video on Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council and called for new sanctions "against Russia” to “commensurate with the gravity of the occupiers' war crimes".

The U.S. Senate planned to take up legislation Thursday to end normal trade relations with Russia, paving the way for higher tariffs on some imports, and to codify President Joe Biden’s executive action banning imports of Russian oil.

The European Union is also expected to take additional punitive measures, including an embargo on coal.
-AP