<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Ukrainians will fight "for as long as we can" to hold the eastern city of Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Friday, as he hosted European Union leaders to discuss further sanctions on Russia and Kyiv's prospects for joining the EU.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, the United States said it would send more than $2.175 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine, including a new rocket that will double Kyiv's strike range to reach most Ukrainian territory now held by the Russians.</div><div><br></div><div>The head of the EU's executive Commission and the chairman of the 27 EU national leaders were in Kyiv to demonstrate support for Ukraine as the first anniversary of Russia's Feb 24 invasion of its neighbour approaches.</div><div><br></div><div>As they and Zelensky's government discussed a range of issues, air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv and across the country - a regular occurrence during months of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure far from the battlefields in the east and south - but there were no reports of new air strikes.</div><div><br></div><div>Zelensky, flanked by the EU leaders at a news conference, said European sanctions should aim to ensure Russia cannot rebuild its military capability. And he had a defiant message on Bakhmut, the focal point of Ukrainian resistance to Russia's invasion and of Moscow's drive to regain battlefield momentum.</div><div><br></div><div>"Nobody will give away Bakhmut. We will fight for as long as we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress," he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Moscow says Russian forces are encircling the city that had a pre-war population of around 75,000 from several directions and battling to take control of a road which is also an important supply route for Ukrainian forces.</div><div><br></div><div>"If weapon (supplies) are accelerated, specifically long- range weapons, not only will we not abandon Bakhmut but we will also begin to remove the occupiers from the Donbas (region of eastern Ukraine), occupied since 2014," Zelensky said.</div><div><br></div><div>The US military aid announced on Friday included rockets known as Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), whose 151 km (94 mile) range would put all of Russia's supply lines in eastern Ukraine within reach, as well as part of the Crimea peninsula, also seized by Moscow in 2014. Source: Reuters&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>