Zelensky says Russia can be stopped but Ukraine badly needs more air defense systems
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Ukraine has shown the world that Russia’s military can be stopped, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday as he began a visit to the Baltic nations in search of more help for his country against the Kremlin’s larger and better-supplied forces in the 22-month-old invasion.
Speaking in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, Zelensky said Ukraine still must bolster its air defenses against Russia’s intensified missile and drone onslaughts and replenish its ammunition supplies as long-range strikes become the main feature of this winter’s fighting.
“We have proven that Russia can be stopped, that deterrence is possible,” he said after talks with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on his first foreign trip of the year.
The massive Russian barrages — more than 500 drones and missiles were fired between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2, according to officials in Kyiv — are using up Ukraine’s weapons stockpiles, however. The escalation is stretching Ukraine’s air defense resources and leaving the country vulnerable unless it can secure further weapons supplies.
“We lack modern air defense systems badly,” Zelensky said, noting that they are “what we need the most.”
He acknowledged, however, that stockpiles are low in countries that could provide such materiel. “Warehouses are empty. And there are many challenges to world defense,” he said.
Russia launches record number of drones in Ukraine, and Putin says Moscow will intensify its attacks
Vladimir Putin said Ukraine could expect more such strikes after shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod that killed more than two dozen people.
Ukraine hopes to accelerate development of its domestic defense industry and establish joint projects with foreign governments to speed up ammunition and weapons production.
Ukrainian officials traveling with Zelensky signed several documents on cooperation on joint arms production. Similar agreements are expected in the other Baltic countries Zelensky is expected to visit this week.
The focus of his two-day trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will be security concerns, Ukraine’s hopes to join the European Union and NATO, and building partnerships in drone production and electronic warfare capacities, Zelensky said on his official Telegram channel.
He thanked Lithuania, where he arrived Wednesday, for its military assistance and goodwill. He was expected in Estonia and Latvia on Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelensky needs more weapons from America and Europe to beat Vladimir Putin, writes Bernard-Henri Lévy, who has a new documentary on the war.
“We know how tiring this long-running war is, and we are interested in Ukraine’s complete victory in it as soon as possible,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told reporters.
The small Baltic countries are among Ukraine’s staunchest political, financial and military supporters, and some in the Baltics worry that they could be Moscow’s next target.
The three countries were seized and annexed by dictator Josef Stalin during World War II before regaining independence with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. They joined NATO in 2004, placing themselves under the military protection of the U.S. and its Western allies.
“Democratic countries have done a lot to help Ukraine, but we need to do more together so that Ukraine wins and the aggressor loses,” Estonian President Alar Karis said in a statement.
Pope Francis devotes his Christmas Day blessing to a call for peace in the world, including between Israelis and Palestinians.
“Then there is the hope that this will remain the last military aggression in Europe, where someone wants to dictate to their neighbor with missiles, drones and cannons what political choices can be made,” he said.
In his Telegram message, Zelensky expressed gratitude to the Baltic countries for their “uncompromising” support of Ukraine over the last 10 years, going back to 2014, when Russia’s aggression started with the illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
Zelensky’s energetic international diplomacy during the war has been essential to maintain pressure on friendly countries to keep supplying Kyiv with billions of dollars in weaponry, including German Leopard tanks, U.S. Patriot missile systems and British Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
That support has tailed off recently, however. A plan by the Biden administration to send to Kyiv billions of dollars in further aid is stuck in Congress, and Europe’s pledge in March to provide 1 million artillery shells within 12 months has fallen short, with only about 300,000 delivered so far.
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Meanwhile, long-range strikes by the Kremlin’s forces have continued.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, came under attack from Russian S-300 missiles late Tuesday, said Mayor Igor Terekhov.
The Russians hit an unoccupied summer camp on the northeastern city’s outskirts, he said on Telegram. Several buildings were damaged, but no casualties were reported.
Ukraine also kept up its new attempts to hit targets inside Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed a Ukrainian drone early Wednesday over the Saratov region of southwestern Russia, on the Volga River.
Saratov Gov. Roman Busargin said the drone was downed over the Engels district, which is home to Russia’s main strategic bomber base, which has launched cruise missiles at Ukraine. He said there were no casualties or damage.
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