Ukranian President Zelenskyy warns of major Russian strike

Washington: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia is preparing a fresh large-scale assault involving drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, while urging the United States to accelerate the supply and production of air defence interceptors that Kyiv says are critical to protecting civilians.

In an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan”, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence and information shared by Western partners indicated a high probability of a major Russian attack in the coming days.

“Today at night or tomorrow at night, high percent, of course, nobody knows 100 per cent but there is a high percent,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukrainians would be urged to use bomb shelters and take extra precautions.

The Ukrainian leader said Russia continued to launch daily attacks and had recently carried out one of its largest barrages of the war.

“Last massive attack… it was 600 drones… and about 30 plus ballistic missiles,” he said, describing ballistic missile defence as Ukraine’s “biggest deficit”.

Zelenskyy revealed that he had sent letters to both the White House and the US Congress requesting additional support, particularly anti-ballistic missile systems and interceptors.

“This is the priority for us, and big, big challenge,” he said. “We have deficit with anti ballistic. This is big problem.”

The Ukrainian President argued that the issue was no longer one of funding but of manufacturing capacity. He said current production levels were insufficient to meet growing global demand.

“… 60, 65 missiles per month for today’s challenges, it’s nothing,” he said. “We need to do production wider.”

Zelenskyy again pressed Washington to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missile components under licence.

“I asked previous administration, I am asking today’s administration, give Ukraine licenses. We will increase the production of Patriot missiles,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader also said Russia appeared to be testing NATO responses through drone incidents involving neighbouring countries.

“Russia uses this just to attack politically and by weapon pressure on NATO countries to look at the reaction,” he said, referring to reported drone incidents affecting Romania and other countries near Ukraine.

On diplomacy, Zelenskyy said he remained willing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin but argued that stronger sanctions were needed to bring Moscow to serious negotiations.

“I think we need more sanctions. I think we need more pressure,” he said. “More sanctions, more pressure, they will be ready for the dialogue.”

He also suggested that Britain, France and Germany could play leading roles in future European mediation efforts, while noting Turkiye’s previous involvement in prisoner exchanges.

Zelenskyy criticised recent easing of some sanctions on Russian oil exports, arguing that such moves indirectly strengthened Russia’s war effort.

“Lifting sanctions is a help for the soldiers of Russia. It’s very helpful for their defence industry,” he said.

The Ukrainian President also renewed allegations that Russia had forcibly removed thousands of Ukrainian children. He said Kyiv had identified about 20,000 children and managed to return roughly 2,200.

“We need more help. We need more help. We need thousands children to get them back,” he said.

Zelenskyy further disclosed that Ukraine was pursuing drone technology partnerships with European and Middle Eastern countries and hoped to finalise a major agreement with the United States.

He said cooperation between American artificial intelligence firms and Ukrainian battlefield innovators could become “the most powerful in the world”.

Asked what was needed to move the proposed drone partnership forward, Zelenskyy replied: “Yes, we need President Trump to say yes.”

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and has become Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.

The war has resulted in hundreds of thousands of military casualties and widespread destruction across Ukraine, while prompting extensive Western military and financial support for Kyiv.

IANS