Ukraine’s president has sharply raised his demand for air defence systems, highlighting how much Russia has intensified the air war in recent months.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said Ukraine needed a dozen additional Patriot systems to insulate its economy from the war.
In April Zelenskyy had said Ukraine needed a minimum of seven Patriot systems to provide air cover, but Russia has since raised the number of missiles, drones and huge glide bombs launched against Ukraine.
Last week, Zelenskyy said, Russia used almost 500 glide bombs, whose warhead ranges from 250kg (550lbs) to three tonnes, more than 400 strike drones, and almost 20 missiles of various types against Ukraine’s front lines and civilian infrastructure.
On Saturday, Macron set up a trilateral meeting in Paris with Zelenskyy and US President-elect Donald Trump, who pushed Zelenskyy towards declaring a ceasefire but offered no security guarantees.
The next day, Trump told NBC in an interview that he was open to reducing military aid to Ukraine and pulling the US out of NATO.
“Possibly,” he said, when asked if Kyiv should prepare for less aid from the US.
Trump has previously pledged to end the Ukraine war quickly, but unlike US President Biden has not upheld Ukraine’s territorial integrity as a priority. It was Zelenskyy’s first meeting with Trump since the November 5 election. The pair did not make a joint statement.
Credit: aljazeera.com
