Zelensky says he's pressing US for more Patriot missiles to counter Russian strikes

KYIV, Ukraine, May 29 ------ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he's being “very persistent” in pressing the United States to provide his country with more Patriot air defense missiles that can counter devastating Russian ballistic missile attacks.

Zelensky said he hasn’t yet received a reply to a letter he sent earlier this week to U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress asking for more of the American-made ammunition. He warned that deliveries to Ukraine are falling dangerously short as the Iran war diverts and depletes U.S. stocks. “I believe (the U.S.) must act quicker. We are being very persistent,” Zelensky told reporters during a visit to Sweden.

Zelensky is keen to secure more deliveries of foreign weaponry that it can’t produce itself as it battles Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. In exchange, he's offering to share the cutting-edge drone expertise that Ukraine has built up during the war.

Russia has used its long-range ballistic missiles to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer cities. The Ukrainian capital is bracing for further heavy bombardments. But no foreign diplomats are known to have heeded Moscow’s recommendation to leave Kyiv before what the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier this week would be upcoming “systemic strikes” on Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that all diplomatic missions in the capital have continued operations. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Ukraine later Thursday that the current escalation and intensification of attacks risks getting out of control, with “unknown and unintended consequences.” He said that more civilians have been killed in the first four months of this year than in the same period in the past three years. Guterres called for more diplomacy, immediate de-escalation and “a full and unconditional ceasefire.”

Source: mb.com.ph