Kiev,May 27, (dpa/GNA) – Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has written to US President Donald Trump, to request assistance amid a worsening shortage of air defence systems, particularly anti-ballistic missile systems.
In his evening video address released in Kiev on Wednesday, Zelensky said he had appealed for additional support in a letter addressed to Trump and members of Congress. He calls almost daily for his country’s air defences to be strengthened with more US-made missiles.
Zelensky said the issue was also discussed in talks with Ursula von der Leyen.
Earlier, the Kyiv Independent newspaper published excerpts of the letter which stated: “When it comes to air defense against missiles, we rely on our friends.” “When it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States,” the report added. According to the report, Zelensky notes that the current pace of deliveries through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme is no longer keeping up with the reality of the threat Ukraine faces.
Under the PURL scheme, NATO countries work together to buy defence equipment from the United States for Ukraine. Last weekend, Russia subjected Ukraine, and Kiev in particular, to one of the heaviest attacks of the war, making use of the new and powerful Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile.
Moscow billed the attack as revenge for a Ukrainian drone attack on a student dormitory in Starobilsk in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, in which 21 civilians were reported by the occupying authorities to have been killed. The Kiev General Staff said the attack had been aimed at a Russian military drone unit.
Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four years with support from Western allies.
Zelensky noted that Ukraine and the United States could still achieve “a dignified peace and guaranteed security.”
GNA