Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky strongly suggested in a video released Wednesday that Kiev has requested supplies of long-range U.S. Tomahawk missiles, as he made critical comments about “confidential” information he said Was that it has been leaked.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 mi), far greater than any missile Ukraine currently possesses. Russia would certainly view such arms deliveries as an escalation of its war in Ukraine.
Zelensky traveled to the United States last month to present a “victory plan” to President Joe Biden, which he said would put pressure on Moscow to negotiate an end to the war in good faith. Can get help.
The Ukrainian leader has since said that the plan envisages a “non-nuclear deterrence package” that would be used only if Moscow does not end its full-scale aggression and continues to escalate the conflict.
Some details of the plan, which are being kept confidential, were mentioned by Zelensky in comments made in English to Nordic journalists on Tuesday, which were published in full on his Telegram page on Wednesday.
“When a lot of countries started supporting the Victory plan, you look at what is going on in the media now – they said that Ukraine wanted a lot of missiles, like Tomahawks, etc. But this was classified information – Ukraine and the White House. Between. How to understand these messages?”
Zelensky said: “So that means there are no secrets between the partners.”
The New York Times on Tuesday quoted a senior US official as saying that Zelensky had asked for Tomahawk missiles, but the official said it was completely impossible.
The United States has been Ukraine’s most important source of military aid since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, but has sought not to do anything that would prompt nuclear-armed Russia to respond harshly or escalate the conflict. Can be done.
For example, the United States does not allow Ukraine to attack military targets inside Russia with Western weapons, while Kiev has repeatedly called for it to be allowed.
Ukraine developed its own long-range attack drones during the war and used them to attack targets inside Russia.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
