Ukraine has received “positive signals” from the West about using arms donated by Kiev’s foreign backers for long-range attacks inside Russia, but in the meantime will continue to develop its own weapons, Vladimir Zelensky has claimed.
The US and its allies have imposed restrictions on how the weapons that they supply to Kiev can be used. The Ukrainian government is pushing for these limitations to be lifted, with Zelensky previously calling the restrictions “crazy.”
During a press conference on Monday, Zelensky was asked why the policy was not reversed during last week’s summit of NATO leaders, despite Ukraine accusing Russia of deliberately firing a cruise missile at a children’s hospital in Kiev.
Moscow has blamed a Ukrainian interceptor missile for the high-profile incident last Monday, and has claimed there is a pattern of similar tragedies happening before Zelensky’s meetings with Western officials.
The Ukrainian leader said Western support had always appeared to him to be a “[one] step forward, two steps back” approach. Some foreign politicians are urging de-escalation, even though Kiev considers the situation unfair and pushes back against this, he added.
“The idea is not being taken well, even though there were some positive signals regarding the use of long-range weapons,” Zelensky said. With no permission expected imminently from Western donors, Ukraine is developing its own weapons, “drones and others,” he added. Kiev has been launching unmanned kamikaze aircraft deep inside Russia since the early stages of the conflict.
After a meeting with new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week, Zelensky claimed that the UK had permitted Kiev to use its Storm Shadow missiles for strikes deep inside Russia.
A senior British military official later disputed the claim, telling The Telegraph that such attacks are “not going to happen.”
US President Joe Biden argued last week that Ukrainian long-range strikes on targets such as the Kremlin would not make sense. Elsewhere, Kiev’s top military spy, Kirill Budanov, has claimed Ukrainian agents have already made multiple failed attempts to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Western nations claim they do now want to be directly involved in the Ukraine conflict. According to Moscow, however, the level of support that NATO states extend to Kiev already makes them participants. Russian officials have described the hostilities as a US-led proxy war on their country.