Zelenskiy Says Speedy Aid 'Critically Important' As Lammy Dismisses Moscow 'Bluster'

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service September 15, 2024

KYIV -- President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has again urged the United States and other allies to "promptly implement" agreements on weapons and other supplies to help Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, underscoring Western debates on the extent and current restrictions on military aid to Kyiv.

In a new video message late on September 14, he said "it is critically important that all states, and especially the United States, really promptly implement the agreements reached with Ukraine."

"It should be felt at the front," Zelenskiy said. "Every delay with military packages has its own negative consequence at the front. Every really timely, fast delivery has a positive impact."

As unprecedented international military supply efforts continue to Ukraine, NATO has faced escalating calls among some members to rescind limits on Western-supplied weapons and supply more advanced weaponry.

Kyiv has repeatedly said it needs to be able to conduct longer-range strikes into Russian territory to defend itself against invading Russian forces, an argument that has found some support among NATO officials.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on September 13 to discuss whether to approve Kyiv's request to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia but did not announce any shift.

Britain is reportedly nearing a decision on possibly letting Ukraine use its Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on September 14 that Biden is "determined to use the four months [he has left in office] to put Ukraine in the best possible position to prevail."

Threats voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin and, more recently by former President Dmitry Medvedev -- who on September 14 suggested a nuclear strike on the Ukrainian capital could turn that city of some 2 million residents into a "gray spot" on the map -- have seemingly sought to ratchet up Moscow's discouragement of Western support for Kyiv.

Zelenskiy said later on September 14 that he had spoken with a delegation of U.S. Congress members and "informed [them] about the current situation and prospects."

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on September 15 that Putin had repeatedly threatened the West that supplies of tanks and missiles "would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia."

"We sent them," Lammy said repeatedly, adding that "Putin threatens every few months to use nuclear weapons."

Lammy said there was "a lot of bluster" but "we cannot be blown off course by an imperialist fascist" who "wants to move into countries willy-nilly."

He said talks between Starmer, Biden, and Zelenskiy would resume at the UN General Assembly later this month.

Debate has sharpened since Ukrainian forces' surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia over paths to bolster Kyiv's position ahead of potential cease-fire talks.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal last week pressed for a second major international peace summit that he said he hoped could attract at least 150 countries, following up on a similar event hosted by Switzerland in June.

In a fresh wave of Russian attacks overnight on September 14-15, Ukrainian authorities said a married couple had been killed in the southern Odesa region and that other key cities had been hit.

Ukraine's military said that the country's air defenses had shot down 10 of 14 attack drones that Russia launched. It also said two Iskander ballistic missiles and a guided air missile, the latter of which was shot down, had targeted Odesa.

In a Telegram post, Zelenskiy said at least 30 people were injured when a Russian guided bomb slammed into a residential building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on September 15.

"The rescue operation in Kharkiv continues. A Russian air strike. An ordinary residential building...was damaged. There is a fire and rubble between the ninth and 12th floors."

"This terror can be stopped. But to stop terror, one must stop the fear of strong decisions that are objectively needed," he added in another reference to allied reluctance to allow the use of Western-provided weapons to strike launching sites deep inside Russia.

In Pokrovsk, an important logistics and supply hub for Ukrainian troops on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, the military administration said a civilian was killed on September 15 as the result of Russian shelling. Russian forces have crept closer to taking the city with a brutal offensive in recent days.

Zelenskiy has said Russia had fired roughly 30 missiles, more than 800 guided bombs, and nearly 300 attack drones at Ukraine in the past week.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on September 15 that its air defenses had destroyed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight that were targeting seven regions of Russia, more than half of them over the Bryansk region.

Calls have also mounted among some NATO members for the alliance to do more to ward off Russian missiles and attack drones like those that members Romania and Latvia say have recently violated their airspace amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is not part of NATO but the alliance said in July that post-Soviet country was on an "irreversible path" to membership.

With reporting by dpa and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/zelenskiy-weapons-supplies-ukraine-us- war/33120663.html

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