SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 19 April 2024, Friday |

Ukraine leader demands Western nations give arms, asks if they’re afraid of Moscow

Ukraine’s visibly irritated President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded on Saturday that Western nations provide a fraction of the military hardware in their stockpiles and asked if they were afraid of Moscow.

Several countries have pledged to send anti-armor and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as small arms, but Zelenskiy stated that Kyiv required tanks, planes, and anti-ship systems.

“That’s what our partners have, and it’s just sitting there collecting dust. This is all for the sake of Europe’s freedom, not just Ukraine’s “In a late-night video address, he stated.

Ukraine needed just 1% of NATO’s aircraft and 1% of its tanks and would not ask for more, he said.

“We’ve already been waiting 31 days. Who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it really still Moscow, because of intimidation?” he said.

Zelenskiy has repeatedly insisted that Russia will seek to expand further into Europe if Ukraine falls. NATO though does not back his request for a no-fly zone over Ukraine on the grounds this could provoke a wider war.

Earlier in the day Zelenskiy talked to Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and expressed disappointment that Russian-made fighter aircraft in Eastern Europe had not yet been transferred to Ukraine, Zelenskiy’s office said in a statement.

“The price of procrastination with planes is thousands of lives of Ukrainians,” the office quoted him as saying. Zelenskiy said Poland and the United States had both stated their readiness to make a decision on the planes.

Earlier this month, Washington rejected a surprise offer by Poland to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. base in Germany to be used to replenish Ukraine’s air force.

    Source:
  • Reuters