President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stepped up pleas this week for US-made Patriot batteries, castigating Kyiv’s western partners for “turning a blind eye” as the capital region saw the destruction of its largest power plant.
Speaking at the Three Seas summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Thursday, he said Ukraine had fallen into a “routine” in which it suffers Russian air attacks and then pleads for more air defences from western partners who promise to provide them but have failed to deliver.
“Missiles are striking every day, and every day we hear that Ukraine will receive new air defence systems. Every day Russian terrorists cut off the electricity to Kharkiv and our other cities, and every day we hear that new aid is coming soon,” Zelenskyy said. “The reality must finally match the words.”
European capitals have said that they do not have plans to send more systems to Ukraine, arguing that they need to retain their own defence capabilities.
Germany has given two Patriot systems to Ukraine but made clear this week that it would not provide any more.
“We will not be able to offer any more systems for the time being,” the defence ministry said on Monday.
That stance has angered some in the opposition Christian Democratic Union. Norbert Röttgen, a CDU MP and member of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee, has said Berlin could give Ukraine two more Patriot systems, especially as those lent to Poland and Slovakia had now been returned.
“That would mak…
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