In an ABC interview broadcast on Saturday, Zelensky says the Patriot interceptor missiles recently delivered are not real support. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lamented the decline in US military aid and described the latest deliveries as insufficient. In a report published on Saturday by the news outlet Kyiv Post, he said: “I feel what I feel. This is not support” – he did not perceive the reduced weapons deliveries as support. He did not, however, feel betrayed by the US.
Zelensky cited specific figures: over the past three months, Ukraine had received only 24 interceptor missiles for its Patriot air-defence batteries from the US. The calculated need was around 350 Patriot interceptor missiles per month. On the scale of Russian attacks, he said that on Thursday evening alone Russia had fired 30 ballistic missiles at Kyiv.
At the same time, Zelensky reaffirmed Kyiv’s readiness for an immediate peace settlement. Ukraine was ready to halt hostilities as quickly as possible and freeze them along the existing contact line if an agreement were reachable. Kyiv would not cede additional territory beyond the good 19 per cent of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian troops in the Donbas in order to end the war.
On Washington’s relations with Moscow, Zelensky said he did not know whether it was wrong that US President Donald Trump wanted to be friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin – that was his personal decision. In his assessment, the two had “quite good relations”. Asked whether Putin had persuaded Trump to suspend the exchange of intelligence information with Ukraine, he replied: “I don’t know. I hope, I believe and hope, God bless, no.”
The president justified his own course by the situation in the war: “There cannot be a weak president in Ukraine right now.” He did not play games with Trump: “As between friends, as in a family, you have to be honest, not play games.” Despite the ammunition deficit, Zelensky stressed his gratitude for the US strategic partnership in repelling Russian aggression.
What is new now are his statements on the scale of US aid and the concrete figures on the Patriot deliveries.
Earlier coverage: Zelensky sets out conditions for lasting peace in Ukraine
