Zelensky calls for West’s ‘courage’
UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the West of lacking courage as his country fights Russia’s invasion, making a plea for fighter jets and tanks to sustain a defence in a conflict that has ground into a war of attrition.
After US President Joe Biden met senior Ukrainian officials in Poland on Saturday, Mr Zelensky lashed out at the West’s “pingpong about who and how should hand over jets and other defensive weapons to us” while Russian missile attacks kill and trap civilians.
“I’ve talked to the defenders of Mariupol today. I’m in constant contact with them. Their determination, heroism and firmness are astonishing,” Mr Zelensky said in a video early yesterday, referring to the besieged southern city that has suffered some of the war’s greatest deprivations and horrors.
“If only those who have been thinking for 31 days on how to hand over dozens of jets and tanks had 1% of their courage.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its 32nd day, has stalled in many areas, faltering in the face of resistance bolstered by weapons from the US and western allies.
Western military aid has so far not included fighter jets. A proposal to transfer Polish planes to Ukraine via the US was scrapped amid Nato concerns about getting drawn into conflict with Russia.
“So who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it still Moscow, thanks to its scare tactics?” Mr Zelensky said. “Our partners must step up their aid to Ukraine.”
The UK Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that the battlefield across northern Ukraine remains largely static as local counterattacks hamper Russian attempts to reorganise their forces.
Despite those assertions, Russian rockets struck the western city of Lviv on Saturday while Mr Biden visited neighbouring Poland, serving as a reminder that Moscow is willing to strike anywhere in Ukraine.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said yesterday it used air-launched cruise missiles to hit a fuel depot and defence plant in Lviv.
He said another strike with sea-launched missiles destroyed a depot with air defence missiles in Plesetske, just west of Kyiv.
The strikes came as Mr Biden wrapped up a visit to Poland, where he met Ukraine’s foreign and defence ministers, visited US troops and saw refugees from the war.
Before leaving, he delivered a forceful condemnation of Russia President Vladimir Putin, saying: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
The White House quickly clarified that he was not calling for an immediate change in government in Moscow, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the remark, saying: “It’s not up to the president of the US and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.”
Early yesterday, a chemical smell still lingered in the air as firefighters in Lviv, about 45 miles from the Polish border, sprayed water on a burned section of an oil facility hit in the Russian attack.