Zelensky seeks more European air defense support for Ukraine at Paris meeting

PARIS, July 14 ------ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went to Paris to ask two dozen European leaders for help developing measures against Russia's ballistic missiles, which have pummeled his country's power grid in the more than four years since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion. European foreign ministers were also meeting separately in Brussels where they were expected to discuss Ukraine’s needs and Russia’s threats to the continent. “Our top priority is anti-ballistic defense,” Zelensky said on social media after arriving in Paris.

Zelensky is keen to accelerate plans for jointly developing with European countries anti-ballistic air defenses ahead of the winter, when Russia usually intensifies its attacks to deny Ukrainians electricity, heat and water. Ukrainian officials will present a proposed Anti-Ballistic Program and meet with government leaders, national security advisers and defense companies who might take part, Zelensky said.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge last week to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air defense systems could mark a major breakthrough for Kyiv. However, experts and Ukrainian officials warn that turning the idea into real weapons would probably take years. It was not clear how quickly a new European system could be built.

Zelensky said he would also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, while the Ukrainian military will take part in the annual parade marking Bastille Day, France’s national holiday. Both Kyiv and its European backers want to press home Ukraine’s recent successes and compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the fighting, although Moscow has shown no willingness to compromise despite a peace effort by the Trump administration.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow will closely follow the Paris meeting but dismissed its aspirations. “This is a coalition of warmongers,” Peskov said. “They are driven by the profound delusion that it’s possible to inflict a strategic defeat on our country, so this is a coalition of the deluded, a coalition of those who incite the war.” Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have given it an edge in recent months, analysts and Western officials say. Its strikes on supply routes behind the front line have robbed the Russian army of momentum on the battlefield and made its progress slow and costly, they say.

Source: mb.com.ph