Speaking to Italian business representatives at the Cernobbio Forum on Lake Como, Zelensky said Ukrainians “want this war to end more than anyone else in the world” and then returned to calling for long-range weapons to stop Moscow’s air strikes.
Speaking to representatives of the Italian business world, Zelensky added that Ukrainians “want this war to end more than anyone else in the world” and then said: “But certainly not through the destruction of their nation, their culture, their cities.”
“Our people are under constant threat of Russian missile and drone attacks every night and every day. Putin seeks to destroy our state and has always done everything to deprive Ukraine of its sovereignty, ruin our economy and force Ukrainians to leave the country”, Zelensky explained in Cernobbio.
Zelensky: “Long-range weapons to hit Russian military airfields”
The Ukrainian leader also criticized Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, accusing Vladimir Putin of “aiming to plunge Ukraine into darkness.”
Zelensky stressed again Ukraine’s need for long-range weapons from international partners, insisting that Ukraine wants to use these weapons only to strike military airfields inside Russia.
“What we want is to use these long-range weapons only on military airfields. We only want to use these weapons that can operate at a hundred and three hundred kilometers. That’s all. That’s all, no other ideas,” he said.
In a post on X after the meeting, Zelensky thanked Italy for cooperating with Kiev in the implementation of the Peace Formula for Ukraine, A 10-point proposal to end the war presented by Zelensky in November 2022.
“Ukraine does not ask for anything more than what your country or any other country already has. We just want that no father in our country has to bury his wife and daughters because they were killed by Russian missiles.“, he wrote. Zelensky is expected to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday.
“Raid on Kurks turned the tables”
The call for faster delivery of weapons to the battlefield was also made on Friday, when Zelensky met with representatives of more than 50 partner countries at the summit of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine at Germany’s Rammstein air base.
After the meeting, Zelensky said the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region had “turned the tables” and asked his partners for permission to strike targets deeper inside Russia with weapons they supplied.
“Putin was preparing to launch a new offensive against our city of Sumy, and we We have turned the tables and are pushing the war into Russia with our counteroffensive“, Zelensky said and reiterated that Ukraine wants to “end this war” and that peace is the final result.
Another $225 million in aid from the US
The summit in Germany was convened as Washington announced it would provide another 225 million euros in security assistance to Kiev.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin described the current situation as a dynamic moment in Ukraine’s struggle against Russiaas Kiev conducts its first full-scale offensive operations on Russian territory, while facing a significant threat from Russian forces near a key hub in the Donbass region.
Austin warned that while the Kursk raid had put Russia on the defensive, “we know that Putin’s wickedness is deep“.
Russia’s recent deadly airstrikes have renewed Zelensky’s calls for the United States to further loosen restrictions on its weapons use, thereby increasing its ability to strike deeper into Russia.
ADVERTISING
However, the summit meeting was expected to focus mainly on the procurement of supplies for air defense and artillery and on strengthening the Ukrainian defense industrial base.
Western partner nations are working with Ukraine to find a replacement missile for the Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems, Austin said.
ADVERTISING
