Zelenskyy made his first appearance at a regular U.S.-hosted gathering of Ukraine’s allies at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and sought to present the long-range strike options as another way to pressure Russia to end the 2-1/2-year-old war.
He spoke at a high-risk moment for Ukrainian forces, who have made a surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk region even as Russian forces focus on seizing the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, a logistics hub for Kyiv’s war effort.
“We need to have this long-range capability not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine, but also on Russian territory, yes, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy has long singled out allies who have supplied long-range weapons but told Kyiv they cannot use them deep inside Russia for fear of crossing “red lines” set out by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
In his remarks on Friday at Ramstein, Zelenskyy said: “Russia’s attempts to draw red lines simply do not work.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pointed to the Kursk offensive as an example of how Ukraine was working to seize the battlefield initiative.
“The Kremlin’s army of aggression is now on the defensive on its own turf,” Austin said.
Still, Austin’s remarks appeared more focused on the broader Western effort to sustain Ukraine’s campaign to repel Russian forces from its territory, including an announcement of another $250 million in security assistance.
Ahead of the summit at Ramstein, the British government also announced that it would provide Ukraine with 650 lightweight multi-role missiles worth £162 million ($213 million).
“This new commitment will give an important boost to Ukraine’s air defenses,” said the British Defense Secretary John Healey.
He added that the new package will also show Ukraine that Britain is “stepping up” its support for Kyiv.
Germany also pledged to supply an additional 12 self-propelled howitzers to Kyiv, while Canada said it planned to send 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets as well as 1,300 warheads in the coming months.
War’s toll
“Putin’s malice runs deep. Moscow is continuing its offensive in the east of Ukraine, especially around Pokrovsk,” Austin said. “Putin is repositioning his troops in Kursk. And the Kremlin continues to bombard Ukraine’s cities and to target Ukraine’s civilians.”
Austin gave statistics on the toll the war has taken on Russian forces, estimating more than 350,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded. He said Ukrainian forces have sunk, destroyed, or damaged 32 Russian Navy vessels and pushed Russia's Black Sea Fleet further east.
Zelenskyy said that about 6,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in Ukraine’s Kursk offensive.
“Today we control an area of more than 1,300 square kilometers in the Kursk region and this includes 100 settlements,” Zelenskyy said, adding that a large part of that territory was abandoned by Russian troops.
“They simply fled when they saw our forces approaching.”
But Moscow has also been pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles and drones in some of its largest attacks since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Zelenskyy urged representatives from the dozens of countries attending the Ramstein talks to make good on promises to supply Kyiv with more means to foil airstrikes.
“The number of air defense systems that have not yet been delivered is significant,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy is expected to travel to the U.S. this month and hopes to present a “victory plan” to President Joe Biden. Still, with the war grinding on and the Kursk incursion having failed so far to divert Russian forces from inside Ukraine, it is unclear whether the advance into Russian territory will pay off.
Russian forces, which control 18% of Ukraine, have been gradually advancing in the east since the failure of Kyiv’s 2023 counter-offensive to achieve a major breakthrough.
The Kremlin has said conditions for peace talks with Ukraine do not now exist.
