Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing - Feb. 26, 2022

ANKARA (AA) - Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkiye and around the world.

- NATO should have taken a more determined step: Turkiye's president on Ukraine crisis

NATO should have taken a more determined step, Turkiye's president said, as the Russian military operation in Ukraine unfolds.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Western stance on the Russian attack on its neighbor, saying it still gives advice as it has offered "plenty of advice until today."

Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan said: "The European Union, as well as all the other Western conceptions, unfortunately, have not taken a serious and resolute stance at the moment (in Ukraine)."

Turkish deputy foreign minister announced the evacuation plan for Turkish nationals in Ukraine via land borders.

“We have started our evacuation operations by land from Ukraine,” Yavuz Selim Kiran wrote on Twitter.

The Turkish Red Crescent and state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) announced they would send a humanitarian aid convoy to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the EU and Ankara are "in a process of regaining trust," according to the European Parliament's standing rapporteur on Turkiye.

"We are now in a new mood in our relations and I can say there is a positive environment. We are in a process of regaining trust," Nacho Sanchez Amor said at a news conference on the annual assessment of Turkiye's EU candidacy.

Turkiye reported 71,736 new coronavirus cases.

According to the Health Ministry, 266 deaths and 90,117 recoveries were recorded in the past day, and almost 454,000 virus tests were done.

- Other developments worldwide

Ukraine’s president said Russia will try to “storm” the capital Saturday and he vowed to resist, according to media reports.

Russia will use “all available forces to break the resistance. Despicably, cruelly, and inhumanly,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message on Facebook, according to Ukraine’s official news agency Ukrinform.

“Tonight they will storm,” said Zelenskyy. “I must say quite frankly, this night will be harder than the day.”

The sounds of huge explosions were periodically heard early Saturday in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv.

Prior to the bombardment, a loud siren was also heard in the capital.

Due to the curfew in the city, central streets remain empty.

Ukraine shot down two Russian fighter jets, an IL-76 aircraft and a helicopter, Ukrainian officials.

Russia vetoed a UN draft resolution that would have condemned Moscow's military actions in Ukraine.

Drafted by the US and Albania, the resolution was also seeking to hold Russia accountable for its aggression against Ukraine, reaffirm Ukraine's sovereignty and demand that Moscow withdraw its forces.

The EU imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the bloc's foreign policy chief.

From the front line in the city of Kramatorsk in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, Anadolu Agency spoke with residents lined up at the enlistment office to voluntarily join the nation’s Territorial Defense Forces as the Ukrainian military seeks recruits to help fight the Russian military intervention.