President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a speech on Saturday that Ukraine may soon run out of air defence missiles if Russia continues its intensive long-range bombing campaign, Ukrainian media reported.
So far, it is the Ukrainian leader’s sharpest warning to date of a deterioration in his country’s air defences, following weeks of Russian strikes on energy systems, cities and towns using a wide arsenal of missiles and drones. The president said in an interview that aired on Ukrainian television:
If they keep hitting every day the way they have for the last month, we might run out of missiles, and the partners know it.
Zelensky has been asking allies to urgently increase air defences for weeks. He reiterated that Ukraine currently has enough arsenals to cope with the situation and therefore has to choose which areas to emphasise.
He also added that some artillery shells had been supplied to Ukraine under foreign initiatives, but because of insufficient quantities, they had been used solely for defensive operations. He said:
We don’t have shells for counteroffensive actions, as for the defence – there are several initiatives, and we’re receiving weapons.
The statements followed a new wave of attacks in Kharkiv, which Ukrainian officials said had killed civilians. Footage of destroyed artillery systems was subsequently published. Especially, the battlefield has shifted against Ukraine in recent months as Kyiv has faced a slowdown in military assistance from the West and the US in particular.
Then, asked by the interviewer about the possibility of Ukraine receiving the package in the form of a loan, he stressed: “We will agree to any options,” but he underlined he still believes a major aid package will be approved by Congress, where it has been stuck in discussions since late last year, facing staunch opposition from Republicans.
The interview was recorded near a military fortification in the north-east of Chernihiv oblast, which borders Russia.
