Austrian leader Karl Nehammer will meet Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday and will call for an end to the conflict. It would be Putin's first face-to-face meeting with a European Union leader since Russia's invasion started on 24 February.
“We are militarily neutral, but (have) a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” Mr Nehammer wrote on Twitter. “It must stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, ceasefire & full investigation of war crimes.”
It comes as a Russian rocket tore through Ukraine’s Dnipro airport on Sunday leaving potential casualties, officials said. The besieged country’s troops are now preparing for a new Russian offensive on Monday
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s GDP will be slashed by around 45.1 per cent this year as a result of the Russian invasion, which has severed its exports and business activity, the World Bank said in its latest forecast.