Ukraine urgently needs more American weapons , including long-range missiles, to contain the Russian advance and stop attacks from Crimea. Otherwise "we will be forced to retreat", Volodymyr Zelensky bluntly tells the Washington Post.
The Ukrainian president's message is aimed at Joe Biden, but even more so at the Republican deputies of Congress, who continue to block the 60 billion in new military aid: "Congress has made us waste six months" , he attacks.
“If you need 8,000 shots a day to defend the front line but you only have 2,000, you have to do less,” the Ukrainian president explained, adding that “if there is no support from the United States, it means that we have air defense, Patriot missiles, electronic warfare jammers, 155 millimeter artillery shells."
And then there is the age-old issue of Atacms, which the Americans are reluctant to provide for fear that Kiev will use them to attack on Russian territory , fueling an escalation. Zelensky, on this issue, assured that long-range missiles would be used to hit airports in Crimea and prevent enemy raids launched from the occupied peninsula.
Kiev is looking with concern at the resumption of the initiative by the Russians, who after conquering Avdivka (one of the most fiercely contested towns in Donbass) have resumed the offensive in grand style in the south-east and north, returning to target also Kharkiv . “To repel the Russians, we need more weapons, otherwise we will retreat, in small steps,” is the warning.
Ukraine is in a situation of objective difficulty in the conflict and Zelensky continues to revolutionize the security leaders . A continuous cleanup: the last to lose their jobs were the president's first advisor, Serhii Shefir, and two deputies of the chief of staff Andriy Yermak. Just a few days ago, one of the most powerful men in Kiev, the head of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, was sacked. Before that, and with much more noise, the head of the armed forces Valery Zaluzhny. The general, no longer aligned with Zelensky's narrative of a total victory within reach, had paid for the failure of the counteroffensive against the Russians launched last spring, which should have reversed the course of the conflict.
(Unioneonline/L)