Zelensky: The US and Great Britain do not allow the use of long-range missiles in Russia

2024-09-21 12:32:17, Kosova & Bota CNA

Zelensky: The US and Great Britain do not allow the use of long-range missiles

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Source: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the United States and Great Britain have not authorized Ukraine to use long-range missiles against targets inside Russia, "perhaps because of fears of an escalation."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia's use of long-range weapons would mean NATO countries were at war with Moscow.

"Neither America nor the United Kingdom gave us permission to use these weapons on the territory of Russia, against any object, at any distance," Zelensky told reporters late on September 20.

"I think they are worried about an escalation," he added.

These weapons were given to Ukraine by its Western allies.

Zelensky also said that Ukraine's allies had increased their military support for the Ukrainian army, which is fighting to stop the advance of Russian forces in the east of the country.

"The aid was accelerated in September. We are satisfied. We can feel the difference," he said.

Delays in the supply of weapons due to political divisions between the allies left the Ukrainian military without supplies earlier this year.

Kiev is very dependent on this military support. Its army has fewer men and fewer weapons than the Russian forces it has fought since Moscow's full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Efforts to end the war have not yet yielded successful results. Zelensky rejected a peace plan proposed in the spring by China and Brazil, calling it too vague.

"I don't think it was a concrete plan. I don't see any specific actions or stages in it, only generalized procedures," he said on Friday evening.

"Generalizations always hide something," he told reporters.

China and Brazil had promoted the idea of ??an international peace conference acceptable to both sides, Russia and Ukraine, where both sides would participate equally and all options would be on the table.

Beijing and Moscow have close ties that have strengthened since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The United States claims that while China does not directly supply weapons to Russia, it helps Moscow increase its domestic production of missiles, military drones and tanks.

Zelensky hopes to propose his so-called "victory plan" to end the war when he meets US President Joe Biden in the United States next week.

"The plan is designed for decisions that will have to happen from October to December... We would very much like that to happen. Then we believe that the plan will work", he had said before.

The Ukrainian leader also said he would meet with Donald Trump possibly on September 26 or 27.

Trump, who was US president from 2017 to 2021, has been highly critical of the billions of dollars Washington has provided to Kiev in aid and has claimed it could help end the war within 24 hours, but without explaining. never how he would do that./ REL