Updated 2.08pm
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called in a live video address to the European Parliament for the EU to "prove" it is with Ukraine as it resists Russia's invasion.
"Without you, Ukraine is going to be alone. We have proven our strength. We have proven that, at a minimum, we are exactly the same as you are. So do prove you are with us, do prove that you will not let us go," Zelensky said.
Zelensky expressed gratitude for the unprecedented measures Brussels has deployed against Russia and in support of his armed forces, including the funding of arms deliveries.
"Without you, Ukraine is going to be alone. We have proven our strength. We have proven that, at a minimum, we are exactly the same as you are," Zelensky said from Kyiv.
"Prove you are with us, do prove that you will not let us go."
"We're fighting for survival. And this is the highest of all motivations. But we are asking also to be equal members of Europe," he said.
EU officials, while sympathetic to that request, say there is no short-cut path for membership and any accession process would take years.
EU countries in NATO are also shying away from Ukrainian demands for a no-fly zone to prevent Russian warplanes decimating Ukrainian forces and population centres.
That would essentially mean a threat against the world's largest nuclear power, risking an escalatory response that could devastate Europe, or the world.
"NATO is not going to be part of the conflict. So NATO is not going to send troops into Ukraine or move planes into Ukrainian airspace," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday in Poland, during a visit to an alliance airbase.
The EU is conscious of potential blowback if it sends troops, not least because Russia accounts for around a third of its natural gas supplies.
The address by Zelensky -- who has become a global icon of defiance in the face of Moscow's aggression -- came as Kyiv pushes for fast-track membership of the bloc.
EU lawmakers look set to back a non-binding resolution calling for Ukraine to be granted candidate status.
The European Union has imposed broad and painful sanctions on Russia, targeting President Vladimir Putin, top officials, oligarchs supporting him and the central bank.
Further sanctions cutting some Russian banks from the global SWIFT messaging network and banning broadcasts of Russian media outlets deemed propaganda organs spreading disinformation are poised to come into effect.
Satellite images show a huge build-up of Russian armoured vehicles and artillery 29 kilometres (18 miles) north of Kyiv as the capital, population three million, braces for an all-out assault.
And in Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, video and photos showed the city's central square completely shelled.