NATO Arms Just Gathering Dust: Zelenskyy Demands Military Equipment As Russia Strikes Lviv | Report
While several countries have promised to provide anti-armour and anti-aircraft missiles as well as small arms Zelenskyy said Kyiv need tanks, planes and anti-ship systems.
New Delhi: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a late night address demanded military arms and hardware to defend itself from Russia, he further asked whether they were afraid of Moscow, Reuters reported.
"That is what our partners have, that is what is just gathering dust there. This is all for not only the freedom of Ukraine but for the freedom of Europe," he commented irritatedly.
While several countries have promised to provide anti-armour and anti-aircraft missiles as well as small arms he said Kyiv need tanks, planes and anti-ship systems, adding that Ukraine just needs 1 percent of NATO's aircraft and 1 percent of its tanks and would not ask for more.
He further said that Ukraine had been waiting for 31 days, "Who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it really still Moscow, because of intimidation?" he was quoted by Reuters.
'Moscow is just filling hatred among its own people'
Zelenskyy in the late night address warned Moscow that it was filling deep hatred for Russia among its people, as constant artillery barrages and aerial bombings are reducing cities to rubble, killing civilians and driving others into shelters, leaving them to scrounge for food and water to survive.
"You are doing everything so that our people themselves leave the Russian language because the Russian language will now be associated only with you, with your explosions and murders, your crimes," Zelenskyy said.
According to an AP report, Russian rockets struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday while President Joe Biden visited neighbouring Poland, serving as a reminder that Moscow is willing to strike anywhere in Ukraine despite its claim to be focusing its offensive on the country's east.
A security guard at the site, Prokopiv Yaroslav, said he saw three rockets strike and destroy two oil tanks but no one was hurt.
The second strike threw me to the ground, he said.
Lviv had been largely spared since the invasion began, although missiles struck an aircraft repair facility near the main airport a week ago.
Two cities on opposite ends of the country are seeing some of the worst sufferings at the moment, Chernihiv in the north strategically located on the road from the Belarusian border to the capital, Kyiv and Mariupol in the south, a key port city on the Sea of Azov. Both are encircled by Russian forces, but still holding out.
Zelenskyy said Poland and the United States had both stated their readiness to make a decision on the planes. However, the US rejected Poland's offer to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to a US base in Germany to restock Ukraine's air force.
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