Western leaders to bolster aid to Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia

The pledges stopped short of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's calls for a full boycott of Russian energy and a no-fly zone over Ukraine where Moscow's bombs are wreaking havoc

(Left-right) Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. President Joe Biden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz before a before a G7 leaders' family photo during a Nato summit in Brussels, Belgium to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Picture: Henry Nicholls/PA Wire

Western leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday agreed to strengthen their forces in Eastern Europe, increase military aid to Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia whose invasion and bombardment of its neighbour entered a second month.

At an unprecedented summit of transatlantic alliance NATO, G7 rich nations and European leaders to address the continent's biggest military crisis since the 1990s Balkans wars, new battle groups were announced for four Eastern European nations.